) From A Guy Meaning

[Lawana Stuckert]

Fromthe introduction: "The Meaning-Text Theory (MTT) is not simply another of numerous linguistic theories, which proliferate to such an extent nowadays that there are almost as many theories as there are practicing linguists. The MTT is truly different in that is puts quite a new emphasis on "sprachlich" meaning, taking it as a cornerstone of language description as a whole; accordingly, semantics is declared and, most importantly, actually treated as the central linguistic discipline (which, among other things, underlies syntax and morphology).

"The Meaning-Text Theory is by no means a novelty. It was launched in 1965, in Moscow, by A. Zholkovsky (now at the University of Southern California) and the present author: Zolkovskij and Mel'čuk 1965. Later, we were joined by Ju. D. Apresjan. Since that time, the MTT has been developing over the past 20 years (see Mel'čuk 1981 and Nakhimovsky 1983). However, the MTT still lacks an easily available and sufficiently detailed presentation in English, a gap which this paper tries to fill, at least in part, by outlining the two following topics:

1) "Where are you from?" implies that you want to know what city/state/country they consider "home," and that you assume it's someplace other than where you are right now. This may be confusing, since where someone is "from" isn't necessarily where they live. It also can be embarrassing to assume, for example, that a person of a certain ethnic background must "come from" some other place. It might be a good idea to separate the idea of "what is your family/ethnic background?" from "where do you live right now?"

2)"Where do you come from" sounds kind of awkward and outdated. I think this is because it includes the present-tense verb "do" in a question about a past-tense action (coming from somewhere). This is perfectly understandable and you can say this if you prefer - I'd still suggest the other way though.

3) "Where did you come from" would be correct if you want to know "where were you immediately before you came to this location we're at right now?" This can also be used to express surprise at the person's sudden arrival or unexpected actions.

According to Google Ngrams, "Where do you come from" was more common until about 1970. American English seems to have used it first - it became more common there in about 1965, but not until about 1984 in British English.

It's tempting to take the position that there are absolute interpretations to all utterances. However I'm inclined to see interpretation as a fluid process, where the interpretation of a question asked or answered takes on a rhetorical trajectory whereby the asker and respondent act and react in accordance with their interests at any given point in the interaction. The nature of the interaction can change during the verbal exchange. For example: Q: where do you come from? (thinks: they think I'm foreign) A: I come from Foreigner Street. Response: Q: 1.... No I mean originally? 2.,,, no I mean (thinks: he thinks I hate foreigners) where did you come here from today? (thinks: phew!) etc....

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It is key to use metrics instead of meaning. Metrics aligns specifics, while meaning supports obscurity. You need to be exact about the end. Working with then end in mind, allows you to determine the process needed to get you where you want to go. Stop working from meaning, and start working towards metrics.

Unlike Holy Grail and Life of Brian, the film's two predecessors, which each told a single, more-or-less coherent story,[3] The Meaning of Life returned to the sketch format of the troupe's original television series and their first film from twelve years earlier, And Now for Something Completely Different, loosely structured as a series of comic sketches about the various stages of life. It was accompanied by the short film The Crimson Permanent Assurance.

Released on 23 June 1983 in the United Kingdom,[4] The Meaning of Life was not as acclaimed as its predecessors, but was still well received critically and was a minor box office success; the film grossed almost $43 million against a $9 million budget. It was screened at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Grand Prix. The film appears in a 2010 list of the top 20 cult films published by The Boston Globe.[5]

Six fish in a restaurant's tank greet each other, then see their friend being eaten. This leads them to question the meaning of life. In the first sketch, "The Miracle of Birth", maternity doctors ignore a woman in labour while trying to impress the hospital's administrator. In Yorkshire, a Roman Catholic man loses his job and informs his numerous children that he must sell them for scientific experiments ("Every Sperm Is Sacred"). A Protestant man looks on disapprovingly and proudly remarks that Protestants can use contraception and have sex for pleasure (although his wife observes that they never do).

In "Growth and Learning", a class of boys learn school etiquette before partaking in a sex education lesson, which involves watching their teacher have sex with his wife. One boy laughs and is forced into a violent rugby match pitting pupils against the school masters as punishment. "Fighting Each Other" features three scenes concerning the British military. First, during the Battle of the Somme in World War I, a British officer tries to rally his men during an attack, but they instead present him with going-away gifts. Second, a modern army RSM bullies his soldiers to say what they'd rather be doing than drill practice, then dismisses each in turn. Lastly, in 1879 during the Anglo-Zulu War during the Battle of Rorke's Drift, a soldier finds his leg has been bitten off. Suspecting a tiger, the soldiers hunt for it and find two men in a tiger costume.

An announcer introduces "The Middle of the Film," during which bizarre characters challenge the audience in a segment called "Find the Fish." "Middle Age" involves an American couple visiting a Hawaiian restaurant with a medieval torture theme, where, to the interest of the fish, the waiter offers a conversation about philosophy and the meaning of life. The customers are unable to make sense of it and move on to a discussion of live organ transplants. In "Live Organ Transplants", two paramedics visit an organ donor and remove his liver while he is alive. His wife is reluctant to donate her liver, but she relents after a man steps out of a refrigerator and reminds her of humanity's insignificance in the universe ("Galaxy Song"). Executives of an American conglomerate debate the meaning of life before a raid by The Crimson Permanent Assurance briefly interrupts them.

"The Autumn Years" starts off with a musician in a French restaurant singing about the joys of having a penis ("The Not Nol Coward Song"). As the song ends, the ill-tempered glutton Mr. Creosote enters the restaurant, causing the fish to scatter and hide. He vomits continuously and devours an enormous meal. After the matre d'htel persuades him to eat an after-dinner mint, Creosote's gut explodes, splattering the other diners. In "The Meaning of Life", the restaurant's cleaning woman proposes that life is meaningless before revealing that she is a racist. A waiter leads the audience to the house where he was born, recalls his mother's lessons about kindness, and then becomes angry when his point trails off.

"Death" features a condemned man choosing the manner of his own execution: being chased off the Cliffs of Dover by topless women in sports gear and falling into his own grave below. In a short animated sequence, despondent leaves commit suicide by throwing themselves from the branches of a tree. The Grim Reaper enters an isolated home and convinces the hosts and dinner guests, with difficulty, that they are all dead. They accompany the Grim Reaper to Heaven, revealed to be the Hawaiian restaurant from earlier. They enter a Las Vegas-style hotel where it's always Christmas and meet the characters from the previous sketches ("Christmas in Heaven").

The song ends abruptly for "The End of the Film". The hostess from "The Middle of the Film" opens an envelope and blandly reveals the meaning of life: "It's nothing very special, really. Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations".

According to Palin, "the writing process was quite cumbersome. An awful lot of material didn't get used. Holy Grail had a structure, a loose one: the search for the grail. Same with Life of Brian. With this, it wasn't so clear. In the end, we just said: 'Well, what the heck. We have got lots of good material, let's give it the loosest structure, which will be the meaning of life'".[3]

After the film's title was chosen, Douglas Adams called Jones to tell him he had just finished a new book, to be called The Meaning of Liff; Jones was initially concerned about the similarity in titles, which led to the scene in the title sequence of a tombstone which, when hit by a flash of lightning, changes from "The Meaning of Liff" to "The Meaning of Life".[3]

Principal photography began on 12 July 1982 and was completed about two months later, on 11 September. A wide variety of locations were used, such as Porchester Hall in Queensway for the Mr Creosote sketch, where hundreds of pounds of fake vomit had to be cleaned up on the last day due to a wedding being scheduled hours later. The Malham Moors were chosen for the Grim Reaper segment; the countryside near Strathblane was used for the Zulu War; and "Every Sperm Is Sacred" was shot in Colne, Lancashire, with interiors done at Elstree Studios.[6] The school chapel scene with the song "O Lord, Please Don't Burn Us" was shot at Churchill College, Cambridge.

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