Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Presumption of agreement

I  remember a recent and detailed conversation regarding the use of presumptive agreement with a very intelligent person
  a few days later I brought it up as an established phrase and theory.
  The attractive female recent St. Johns College grad was not only unbelieving but actually a little upset.
  "I would have heard of it!" Ah how sweet were those days when I also knew everything. How bittersweet the memory of youth and arrogance.
  She did mutter something unflattering under her breath. Being young she did not say it out loud.
  Anyway I can find nothing on the internet.
  This morning I woke up with the clear recollection of the conversation with my Mom.
   She has been gone these 7 years..... No wonder smart pretty 20 something had never heard of it
Hmm. This post seems to glance over several subjects with only a fun little touch. I am seeing somebody, Maybe Olivia , helping me with a strange poem story thingy in the near future

6 comments:

  1. I presume you are talking about an assumed agreement based on the bulk of facts.

    pre·sume (verb) - 1. suppose that something is the case on the basis of probability:
    "I presumed that the man had been escorted from the building"
    synonyms: assume, suppose, surmise, speculate, etc.
    take for granted that something exists or is the case.
    "the argument presumes that only one person can do the work"
    2. be audacious enough to do something.
    "kindly don't presume to issue me orders in my own house"
    synonyms: venture, dare, have the audacity/effrontery, be so bold as
    "let me presume to give you some advice"

    Which leads my mind to wander to this example of the use of the word "presume"
    ...
    For I have known them all already, known them all:
    Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons, 50
    I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
    I know the voices dying with a dying fall
    Beneath the music from a farther room.
    So how should I presume?

    And I have known the eyes already, known them all— 55
    The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase,
    And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin,
    When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall,
    Then how should I begin
    To spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways? 60
    And how should I presume?

    And I have known the arms already, known them all—
    Arms that are braceleted and white and bare
    (But in the lamplight, downed with light brown hair!)
    Is it perfume from a dress 65
    That makes me so digress?
    Arms that lie along a table, or wrap about a shawl.
    And should I then presume?
    And how should I begin?
    ...
    - T. S. Eliot, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"

    Time to put one of those coffee spoons to work

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  2. Love your #%%#@ great comments dude!!
    Nope I mean using force of will and words to convince somebody that they already agree with you as my young son often does to me. Since you are not getting me the present you agreed to poppa how about we get this one instead?

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  3. I have often wondered when one of my children pronounce an agreement that I had supposedly made with them that I have no memory of:
    1. do they honestly believe I had agreed to whatever they are saying,
    2. or is their logic that it makes such obvious sense to them that of course I'd have agreed to it and therefore must have, or
    3. are they cynically assuming that if they tell me I'd already agreed, I'll just go along?
    4. Because actually, the idea that I had agreed in the past and just don't remember, while seeming likely, really isn't, because while I'm not the best at remembering things, I am quite good at responding consistently to the same load of blarney, so if it is indeed a school night, the likelihood that I'll let you go to the 9:00 showing of the new 3-D movie is within half a percentage point of zero in either direction. I don't care how little homework you have due before lunch the next day.

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  4. So if 6 year old Soren (well this started pretty much as soon as he could talk) knows of this and my dead mother in my head knows of this, why can't I find it on the web? I am pretty sure it is taught in sales classes and negotiation seminars...
    I am certain that if a very attractive St. Johns grad has not heard of it, it must not exist?. Truthfully there was a Johnny tutor a republican fundraiser and 4 other (male, so less important) Johnny graduates there and they all claimed to have no idea what I was talking about. I forgot to ask Tom Hagerman if it is a known idea in law circles...

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  5. It's probably an issue of vocabulary. The thing must certainly be known--especially in the Sales circle of hell, but is probably know by a different name. I've often noticed the people have trouble understanding a concept if they don't have a label for it, and if you mention it by a different label, they don't recognize it.

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  6. My Friend Frank on this subject. "The Assumptive close."

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