Cohousing-L Mailing List: Try saying that in E-Prime

[Becky Weaver (becky_weaver]

Hi folks,

Reading several recent threads (rich people in cohousing, emotional vs.
"factual" decision-making) makes me wonder if y'all know about E-Prime. 

In E', speakers do not use any forms of the verb "to be." This tool
helps people achieve greater clarity of meaning. It prevents exactly the
sort of emotional/logical morass people unleash when they make
provocative statements such as "there *ARE* times when one side or
person *IS* right and another is wrong."

Using E', you'd say something like "at some times one person's appraisal
of a situation appears, considering all current information, more
accurate than another's." Nobody can argue with that, and indeed I can't
see why anybody would bother. Devotees of E' would claim that no human
(not even Mr. Landman) can really ascertain that a conclusion, even a
scientific one, contains no errors. He can only ascertain that his model
appears (to him) accurate, according to the research he's done or the
information he's received. Some people get very interested in the
philosophical implcations of all this, but I have more interest in its
practical, interpersonal, and problem-solving uses. 

Speaking of the Tacoma Narrows bridge - engineers designed that bridge
acccording to the scientifically accepted models of the time. After the
bridge blew apart, engineers realized they had an incomplete model. Thus
must all of us, even (or maybe especially) scientists, refine our
*understanding* of nature's laws. An engineer could have said, prior to
the bridge collapse, "this design IS good." Speaking E', he would say,
"this design meets current engineering guidelines." Consider the
accuracy level of the two statements. Consider their argument potential.
People who love to argue may hate E'.

Please note that I say "argue" as opposed to "discuss." Using E' can
result in delightful discussions allowing deeper, fuller understanding
among individuals. And it provides just as much intellectual play as
"arguing." It just keeps us from stating potentially fallacious axioms
to provoke one another. 

Using E' helps scientists write more accurately. For a discussion of E'
and science, see http://www.nobeliefs.com/eprime.htm.  

Here's an excerpt from E. W. Kellogg III and D. David Bourland, Jr.'s
"Working with E-Prime: Some Practical Notes" at 
http://www.generalsemantics.org/Articles/E-Prime_intro.htm:

______________________

"E-Prime automatically eliminates the "is-dependent", over-defining of
situations in which we confuse one aspect, or point of view, of an
experience with a much more complex totality ... This over-defining
occurs chiefly in sentences using the "is of identity" (e.g. "John is a
scientist") and the "is of predication" (e.g. "The leaf is green"), two
of the main stumbling blocks to a non-Aristotelian approach. E-Prime can
also enhance creativity in problem solving, by transforming premature
judgment statements such as "There is no solution to this problem" into
more strictly accurate versions such as "I don't see how to solve this
problem (yet) ... As a discipline, E-Prime, like general semantics,
works to achieve a useful congruency between the verbal maps we make of
experience, and the actual territory of experience itself.
... 
For example, if you saw a man, reeking of whisky, stagger down the
street and then collapse, you might think (in ordinary English) "He is
drunk". In E-Prime you would think instead "He acts drunk", or "He looks
drunk". After all, you might have encountered an actor (practicing the
part of a drunken man), a man who had spilled alcohol on himself
undergoing a seizure of some kind, etc. Instead of simply walking by,
you might instead look a little more carefully and end up sending for an 
ambulance.
... E-Prime fosters a worldview in which the user perceives situations
as changeable rather than static, and in which verbal formulations
derived from experience indicate possibilities rather than certainties.
...Statements made in E-Prime almost always mirror first person
experience more adequately than the "is" statements they replace.
E-Prime also greatly encourages one to use the active voice ("I did it",
"Smith did it") rather than the often misleading, information poor, and
even psychologically crippling passive voice ("it was done")."

______________________

"Nifty," you say, "But what does this have to do with cohousing?"  

Try switching to E' in particularly sticky or emotional discussions
(though not when people already feel upset. You don't want to frustrate
anybody over the edge.) Frankly, if you can't say something in E', what
you're saying doesn't make sense in English either. Certain uses of "to
be" just conveniently hide that fact, usually by hiding assumptions. 

Reducing hidden assumptions allows us to communicate more clearly. I
can't blame or label in E' without at least owning up to it. I can't
impersonate God by claiming knowledge of *absolute* facts. I can express
both "objective" information and my "subjective" emotions, without
confusing the two or giving one more weight than the other. 

Interestingly, active listening often involves "translating" speakers'
statements into E'. 

Give it a try! It takes practice, but you'll learn a lot. 

The curious can find more information at: 

http://www.rawilson.com/quantum.html

http://www.generalsemantics.org/Articles/TOBECRIT.HTM
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