I'm waiting for the packing and moving fairy to show up. I said this to a friend of mine who, to his infinite credit, did not skip a beat in replying that as far as he knew, all the fairies were on strike. Apparently the laundry fairy had failed to show up at his house; I know that the paper writing fairy never left any pleasant surprises on my desktop at the end of the last semester (or any other semester, alas...) and another friend has told me that the lesson-planning and paper-grading fairies are long-term no-shows at her house. If the packing and moving fairy doesn't come to my aid, then I have no idea how I'll get out of here.
I'm really having one of those can't cope/won't cope kinds of months.
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Just to point out how weird logic can be, here is a demonstration of modus tollens in action:
1) If the packing and moving fairy doesn't come to my aid, then I have no idea how I'll get out of here.
2) I do not have no idea how I will get out of here.
Therefore, the packing and moving fairy will not come to my aid.
And here is a modus ponens:
1) If the packing and moving fairy doesn't come to my aid, then I have no idea how I'll get out of here.
2) The packing and moving fairy did not come to my aid.
Therefore, I have no idea how I'll get out of here.
If I (a) can figure out how to get out of here, then I can know logically that the packing fairy will not come to my aid. If (b) the packing fairy does not come to my aid, then I will know logically that I will have no idea how to get out of here.
Statements such as these are the reason they invented modal logic.
For what it's worth, my advice would be to scrap modal logic at this juncture and employ a great big screaming tantrum instead. I had to do that when I last moved house. It was awful and humiliating but things got moved - and very quickly - as a consequence.
ReplyDeleteIf I was nearby, I would gladly put on my fairy frock and help you out. And if you need anyone to assist at this side of port, I'm about 3 1/2 hours drive from London
K x
If only there remained anyone for me to throw a tantrum in front of! I spent last weekend saying goodbye to a friend from church, my very dear next to most recent ex-girlfriend and quarreled in a stupid fashion with another church friend I had been hoping would help me out.
ReplyDeleteIt is very kind of you to offer help on the other side of the Atlantic. I am rather dreading trying to manage two inevitably heavy suitcases and my shoulder bag containing my rather weighty laptop on the Thameslink to King's Cross and thence down the road to the tube. I hope that they have finished most of the construction going on there; the last I saw of it, it was still a complete mess, crosswalks blocked by hoardings and the pavements made narrow. And all with jet lag! Still, it won't last forever and I sha'n't have to do it but once.