FOT Forum
The Best Show on WFMU => Show Discussion => Topic started by: Fido on July 22, 2008, 12:14:04 AM
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At a conference I attended this week, a speaker (facetiously) discussed a classification system allegedly of Chinese provenance cited by Jorge Luis Borges. With the current obsession with lists of people, good and bad things in the FOT community, I thought it was perfect to share (apologies if this has already been posted).
From the following site: http://www.multicians.org/thvv/borges-animals.html
In "The Analytical Language of John Wilkins," Borges describes 'a certain Chinese Encyclopedia,' the Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Knowledge, in which it is written that animals are divided into:
1. those that belong to the Emperor,
2. embalmed ones,
3. those that are trained,
4. suckling pigs,
5. mermaids,
6. fabulous ones,
7. stray dogs,
8. those included in the present classification,
9. those that tremble as if they were mad,
10. innumerable ones,
11. those drawn with a very fine camelhair brush,
12. others,
13. those that have just broken a flower vase,
14. those that from a long way off look like flies.
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Ontology is overrated. (http://www.shirky.com/writings/ontology_overrated.html)