[ExI] Against many words

Allen artisan at halenet.com.au
Tue May 19 20:29:22 UTC 2009


I am new on this forum.
  Re language - I have been trying to get an idea into peoples minds which is proving to be well nigh impossible. That is, we need to alter our language. The first instance is with expressions from thousands of years ago which state that the earth does the moving and the sun is static. Such as "the sun is rising" when actually the earth is rolling. "The sun is going behind the clouds" when in  fact the clouds are moving and covering the sun. What of 'the sun is setting'? what words can we use there. We need to change the words but this part is very difficult. You use say, instead of 'sunrise', 'dawn' and that is OK. I challenge you to a two day experiment and not use any expressions other than the truth that the earth is the active one and let me know how you manage accurate language. my grouse is that how can children grow up with a good working mental model of the solar system in which we live if the language is constantly interfering with coherent thought. After this, I have another one!
Carol
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