Trump the “Air Quote” Presidency or “Humpty Dumpty as President”
March 14, 2017 § Leave a comment
In Through the Looking-Glass
Humpty Dumpty and Alice. From Through the Looking-Glass. Illustration by John Tenniel.
Humpty appears in Lewis Carroll‘s Through the Looking-Glass (1872), where he discusses semantics and pragmatics with Alice.[22]
“I don’t know what you mean by ‘glory,’ ” Alice said.
Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. “Of course you don’t—till I tell you. I meant ‘there’s a nice knock-down argument for you!’ ”
“But ‘glory’ doesn’t mean ‘a nice knock-down argument’,” Alice objected.
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.”
“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”
“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master—that’s all.”
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