emacs-orgmode@gnu.org archives
 help / color / mirror / code / Atom feed
From: ross@rosslaird.info (Ross A. Laird)
To: emacs-orgmode@gnu.org
Subject: Re: unicorn
Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2009 10:33:11 -0800	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <87ljrru3vc.fsf@rosslaird.info> (raw)
In-Reply-To: 56DD71CD-D7DD-4639-80D1-2888472DA7E8@uva.nl

Carsten Dominik <dominik@science.uva.nl> writes:

> On Feb 27, 2009, at 12:12 PM, Bastien wrote:
>
>> Carsten Dominik <dominik@science.uva.nl> writes:
>>
>>> I guess it is something like an official logo, yes (even though
>>> some people don't like it, I have seen it being called
>>> "demasculinating"
>>> ...)
>>
>> Hehe...  Since I picked up this "animal", I entirely assume any queer
>> connotation it may have.  The IT world is already "masculine" enough!

>> Bastien
>
> I like it, and I really do like the list of reasons
> we have (in hindsight) for choosing it...
>

I teach several courses in mythology at my university (it's my area of
concentration), and I feel inclined to say that the unicorn, as a
mythological animal, does not have any type of queer of emasculating
connotation in myth. In fact, it is sometimes quite a masculine animal
that is related to the stag in the grail quest (the stag stabs, with his
antler, the inner thigh of the grail knight, thus showing the stag's
greater masculinity). These animals are symbols of divinity,
essentially, of the fusion of purity and power. They don't really have a
sexual connotation other than the idea of generative power (like the
bull). Queer is a new idea in myth; it's about fifty years old. Myth
itself, on the other hand, is about 70,000 years old. So, the
application of queer terminology to mythological items such as unicorns
is a modern practice which has no real impact on ancient myths and myth
items such as the unicorn. In a thousand years we will still have myths
of the unicorn, but the idea of queer will probably have evolved into
something else (it already is evolving into something else...).

As to the question of whether or not unicorns still exist (see org FAQ),
this falls within the same domain as the question of whether Atlantis
exists. The answer (as much as there can be one) is that they do exist,
as mythological items that Carl Jung called "archetypal;" they are
essential to, and foundational of, human nature. They will always be a
part of human culture, and exist timelessly in that sense whether or not
they exist in fact.

I can hardly ever contribute anything useful to this list. Today is an
exception.

Cheers.

Ross

-- 
Ross A. Laird, PhD
www.rosslaird.info

  reply	other threads:[~2009-02-27 18:33 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 20+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2009-02-25 21:58 unicorn Raimund Kohl-Füchsle
2009-02-26 20:19 ` unicorn Carsten Dominik
2009-02-27 11:12   ` unicorn Bastien
2009-02-27 11:21     ` unicorn Carsten Dominik
2009-02-27 18:33       ` Ross A. Laird [this message]
2009-02-28 12:18         ` [OT] unicorn Detlef Steuer
2009-02-28 19:17           ` Carsten Dominik
2009-02-28 16:17         ` OT " Carsten Dominik
2009-02-28 18:37           ` Ross A. Laird
2009-02-28 19:35             ` Carsten Dominik
2009-02-28 20:56               ` Ross A. Laird
2009-03-01 13:26                 ` Jason F. McBrayer
2009-02-27 18:47       ` unicorn Russell Adams
2009-02-27 19:34         ` unicorn Christopher Suckling
2009-03-01 23:22           ` unicorn Tim Burt
2011-04-07 20:38           ` unicorn Nick Dokos
2011-04-08 16:13             ` unicorn Bastien
2009-02-27 19:56       ` unicorn J Aaron Farr
2009-02-27 18:35     ` unicorn Jason F. McBrayer
     [not found]   ` <874oyfh01a.fsf@gmx.ch>
2009-03-18 12:53     ` unicorn Carsten Dominik

Reply instructions:

You may reply publicly to this message via plain-text email
using any one of the following methods:

* Save the following mbox file, import it into your mail client,
  and reply-to-all from there: mbox

  Avoid top-posting and favor interleaved quoting:
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_style

  List information: https://www.orgmode.org/

* Reply using the --to, --cc, and --in-reply-to
  switches of git-send-email(1):

  git send-email \
    --in-reply-to=87ljrru3vc.fsf@rosslaird.info \
    --to=ross@rosslaird.info \
    --cc=emacs-orgmode@gnu.org \
    /path/to/YOUR_REPLY

  https://kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-send-email.html

* If your mail client supports setting the In-Reply-To header
  via mailto: links, try the mailto: link
Be sure your reply has a Subject: header at the top and a blank line before the message body.
Code repositories for project(s) associated with this public inbox

	https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/emacs/org-mode.git

This is a public inbox, see mirroring instructions
for how to clone and mirror all data and code used for this inbox;
as well as URLs for read-only IMAP folder(s) and NNTP newsgroup(s).