Verb Symmetry

This semester, I'm taking a class on Cognitive Science, because I'm a glutton for punishment. It won't do anything for my dissertation, nor will it be even remotely useful in my future research. Basically, it's a 3 credit class with no homework and no tests. I am an academic sandbagger.

Actually, that's not entirely true. The coursework is a real challenge, especially given that I have almost no background in Cognitive Science. In fact, the one course I've ever taken in that field was a surprising mix of physiology and Electrical Engineering.

This class, on the other hand, is beter suited to AngryMark the English student (or Pluto, the blog-lurking Psych student) than to Engineery ol' me. It's a course for linguists and philosophers, not biomechanicists.

I'd be in over my head, if there was any homework or any quantitative assessment of my grasp of the material. Instead, while I can't swim, I'm really only wading in ankle-deep waters.

The first few weeks were really interesting, from what I could understand. We learned about the notion of causality, both in the physical world and in language. It's too long to reproduce here but next time you see me, ask me the story of the Rabbit who was gorping the Duck. Yes, gorping.

Now, thought, we're deep in the world of linguistics. I'm so lost. I'm missing a lot of basic vocabulary, and it's reached the point where I can no longer fake familiarity. It's frustrating, not at all because I'm worried in the least about my grades, but because there are so many better things I could b doing with my time than sit in a conference room and daydream.

For example, I could write a blog post. This blog post, to be specific.

In today's entire 2.5 hour lecture, I successfully absorbed only one idea... and I use the word "successfully" about as liberally as an unwashed tie-dyed barefoot hippie.

I learned about symmetry in verbs. Being a "hand-on" sort of student, it behooved me to come up with examples to illustrate the lesson, which I will share with you now...

example 1: Don matches Jay. Don and Jay match.Here, the verb "match" is totally symmetrical. Don matches Jay, and at the same time, Jay matches Don. They match.

example 2: Aaron kissed Will. Aaron and Will kissed.
Just because Aaron got a little friendly doesn't mean that the second sentence is true. "Kiss" is not symmetrical. Aaron kissed Will, but Will did not kiss Aaron.

example 3: Don danced with Jenks' mom. Don and Jenks' mom danced.
I'm not certain, but I think the symmetry is a function of the need for the word "with". In a sentence of the form Subject Verbed with Object, the verb is of some unique type, I think.

example 4: Don slept with Will's mom. Don and Will's mom slept.
Clearly, the above rule doesn't apply to slang or euphemisms like "sleeps with". After all, when I sleep with Will's mom, neither of us actually gets any sleep.