Richard Powers - Speech baffled my machine. Helen made all well-formed sentences. But...

Speech baffled my machine. Helen made all well-formed sentences. But they were hollow and stuffed--linguistic training bras. She sorted nouns from verbs, but, disembodied, she did not know the difference between thing and process, except as they functioned in clauses. Her predications were all shotgun weddings. Her ideas were as decorative as half-timber beams that bore no building load. She balked at metaphor. I felt the annoyance of her weighted vectors as they readjusted themselves, trying to accommodate my latest caprice. You're hungry enough to eat a horse. A word from a friend ties your stomach in knots. Embarrassment shrinks you, amazement strikes you dead. Wasn't the miracle enough? Why do humans need to say everything in speech's stockhouse except what they mean?

Richard Powers

They Said So®

Richard Powers Quotes

;

Speech baffled my machine. Helen made all well-formed sentences. But they were hollow and stuffed--linguistic training bras. She sorted nouns from verbs, but, disembodied, she did not know the difference between thing and process, except as they functioned in clauses. Her predications were all shotgun weddings. Her ideas were as decorative as half-timber beams that bore no building load. She balked at metaphor. I felt the annoyance of her weighted vectors as they readjusted themselves, trying to accommodate my latest caprice. You're hungry enough to eat a horse. A word from a friend ties your stomach in knots. Embarrassment shrinks you, amazement strikes you dead. Wasn't the miracle enough? Why do humans need to say everything in speech's stockhouse except what they mean? Richard Powers

They Said So®

Keywords

speech baffled machine helen made -formed sentences hollow stuffed--linguistic training bras sorted nouns verbs disembodied difference thing process functioned clauses predications shotgun weddings ideas decorative half-timber beams bore building load balked metaphor felt annoyance weighted vectors readjusted accommodate latest caprice hungry eat horse word friend ties stomach knots embarrassment shrinks amazement strikes dead miracle humans speech' stockhouse

Explore other Authors

Ayrton Senna

Francis Quarles

William Cobbett

Horace

Catherynne M. Valente

Michael Caine

John Keats

Kelly Osbourne

Tony Parsons

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Swami Sivananda

Frank Lloyd Wright

If you are using this quote in any webpage , printmedia or any other places please use the following methods to cite this quotation.

MLA Style Citation

"A quote by Richard Powers" theysaidso.com, 2024. Apr 26, 2024. https://theysaidso.com/quote/richard-powers-speech-baffled-my-machine-helen-made-all-well-formed-sentences-bu

APA Style Citation

"A quote by Richard Powers" (n.d.). theysaidso.com. Retrieved Apr 26, 2024, from theysaidso.com web site : https://theysaidso.com/quote/richard-powers-speech-baffled-my-machine-helen-made-all-well-formed-sentences-bu

Chicago Style Citation

"A quote by Richard Powers". theysaidso.com, 2024. https://theysaidso.com/quote/richard-powers-speech-baffled-my-machine-helen-made-all-well-formed-sentences-bu , accessed Apr 26, 2024.

Comments

Authentication required

You must log in to post a comment.

There are no comments yet.