Language is technology
Yesterday's Connection on NPR had a wonderful show with Scott Huler, author of the book, "Defining the Wind: The Beaufort Scale, and how a 19th Century Admiral turned Science into Poetry." He says at the beginning of the show:
He goes on to talk about Strunk and White's dictum about eliminating excess words, and notes that the Beaufort Scale raises that dictum to a fine art by describing all the various speeds of wind in just 110 words. Huler goes on to say that these are "the best 110 words ever written" because they allowed non-technical people to objectively define wind speed when shipping depended on wind to transport goods to market and people to destinations.
The show is worth listening to, even if you only hear the first 10 minutes when Huler reads the Beaufort Scale. Today's technology businesses, scientists, and marketers would do well to study this 19th century admiral and his poetry of technology.
Language is technology. Language has a job to do. A word is just a tool for getting an idea from inside your brain into my brain.
He goes on to talk about Strunk and White's dictum about eliminating excess words, and notes that the Beaufort Scale raises that dictum to a fine art by describing all the various speeds of wind in just 110 words. Huler goes on to say that these are "the best 110 words ever written" because they allowed non-technical people to objectively define wind speed when shipping depended on wind to transport goods to market and people to destinations.
The show is worth listening to, even if you only hear the first 10 minutes when Huler reads the Beaufort Scale. Today's technology businesses, scientists, and marketers would do well to study this 19th century admiral and his poetry of technology.
posted by Carl Howe at
11:16 AM
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