OK, not really. But Steven Pinker’s talk at Town Hall Seattle this evening explored three ideas:
- How language reveals our sense of “folk-physics”
- How swearing helps us understand emotions
- How innuendo explains the way we construct relationships
These and other themes are from his new book, The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature. In his persuasive analysis of the forms and role of swearing, Pinker used five of George Carlin’s Seven Words with a frequency and academic precision which had the (standing room only) audience rolling in the aisles. If this book tour brings him to your home town, do go along and see him – unless you’re easily offended, of course.
And on Thursday we have James Watson at the Pacific Science Center.