Henceforth, anyone who admits to me that they admire Noam Chomsky for anything whatsoever will be labelled the bearer of monster cooties and will be banished from my blog.
That's
MONSTER COOTIES |
I admire him for being able to insert his head farther into his anus than any other known vertebrate.
And I'm not scared of your monster cooties, my natural cooties are much stronger, and better trained, and they know the terrain. Plus, your cooties conquering my cooties would just anger my cooties and result in an uprising of the cootie street.
Posted by: Robin Goodfellow at February 26, 2003 at 02:11 AMHear Hear. The fact that he believes Eastern Europe was a paradise while it was under the rule of the Soviet Union is more evidence of Chomsky's complete departure from reality.
Posted by: John Belcher at February 26, 2003 at 02:36 AMWe got trolls, we got intellectual dwarves, we got noams (normally spelled "gnomes") -- and now we got monsters with cooties.
What is this, Middle Earth?
Posted by: Kevin McGehee at February 26, 2003 at 07:57 AMJudging by his writings, I'd say that Chomsky doesn't even have a nodding acquaintance with reality.
And he probably had a soap phobia to boot. (After all, soap comapnies are owned by (gasp!) capitalists...)
J.
Posted by: jllawson at February 26, 2003 at 12:07 PMChomsky has a remarkable svengali-like effect on people who have an instinctive hatred brewing inside them. Very like that irritating little Austrian corporal, you know? What was his name again?
Posted by: Dean Esmay at February 26, 2003 at 02:03 PMHe had some insights about grammar and linguistics. Is it curtains for me?
Posted by: Aaron Haspel at February 26, 2003 at 03:50 PMNo curtains allowed. We don't want any hangings.
Cool points for those who can identify the song that last sentence came from.
Posted by: David Perron at February 26, 2003 at 04:17 PMGosh, that's a poser. I am sure I read somewhere that his linguistic theories have been called into question... but since I can't remember where, I think I'll let you off with a penalty:
WASH THOSE HANDS, YOUNG MAN! WASH THEM NOW!
Posted by: Andrea Harris at February 26, 2003 at 04:18 PMHis linguistic theories have been called into question by many. The cult that grew up around his theories has also been questioned.
I despised Noam before I even knew he had political opinions. Does that mean I've got anti-cooties? ;)
His (simplistic) linguistic theories can describe computer languages pretty well, and are often used for that purpose. When applied to natural languages, however, they more or less suck, just like him.
He hasn't produced anything of academic/scientific value in at least 30 years. Foes of the tenure system have a ready-made posterboy in Chimpsky.
Posted by: Niccolo Machiavelli at February 26, 2003 at 11:13 PMNobody has come up with the answer to David's question yet?
"Alice's Restaurant"
What's the exchange rate for cool points?
Posted by: Ken Summers at February 27, 2003 at 08:56 AMWell, I don't "admire" NC for anything, but I could say a couple of good things about him.
On the other hand, I think anyone who calls Bush "The Resident in Chief" should be bitch-slapped til 2004, which should leave me with at least second tier posting privileges.
Posted by: Jane at February 27, 2003 at 02:51 PMCorrect! Hmmm...have to get my exchange rate calculator out.
Damn. Was that too easy? Maybe I'm not as good at this stuff as I thought I was.
Posted by: Hornblower at February 27, 2003 at 05:49 PMNah, David, not too easy, I just happen to love the song. I may dislike the politics, but it's one of the cleverest and funniest pieces not written by Tom Lehrer.
Posted by: Ken Summers at February 27, 2003 at 10:18 PM