Re: TOTALLY TRIVIAL ASIDE: Lewis Carroll

Brian Manning Delaney (bdelaney@infinitefaculty.org)
Mon, 22 Nov 1999 23:46:55 -0800

Damien Broderick wrote:
>
> At 05:16 PM 19/11/99 -0500, Sean wrote:
>
> >> In one of Piers Anthony's books a
> >> character explained, "if it's not your birthday, it is your unbirthday!"
>
> >This originally comes from "Alice in Wonderland", during the Tea Party
> sequence
> >with the Mad Hatter and the March Hare, in which they were having an
> unbirthday
> >party. Piers Anthony seems to have liffted it for his own purposes.
>
> Lewis Carroll, as a playful logician, might have
> smiled at this happy typo. So the (appallingly)
> punnish Mr Anthony lifted it if and only if it suited
> his own purposes? Mais oui!

This delightful (very brief) piece by Lewis Carroll has inspired many to try to fathom the mysteries of philosophy (and others to become vulgar Wittgensteinians):

http://home.earthlink.net/~lfdean/carroll/essays/achilles.html

Best,
Brian.