"Take the phrase, ‘My brother is lazy’. It seems clear, but Korzybski and Bourland would say it deceives: **it implies certainty and objectivity, when in reality it expresses an opinion**. Even, ‘The sky is blue’ papers over the details: I really mean, ‘The sky appears blue to me’. "‘Our judgments can only be probabilistic,’ said [[Allen Walker Read]], a Korzybski follower, in a paper entitled ‘Language Revisions by the Deletion of Absolutisms’. ‘Therefore we would do well to avoid finalistic, absolutistic terms. **Can we ever find “perfection” or “certainty” or “truth”? No! Then let us stop using such words in our formulations.’** E-Prime provided an easy way to do this: simply stop using ‘to be’." --- **Tags** -- [[quotes]], [[context]], [[the-map-is-not-the-territory]], [[semantic-creep]], [[acceptance]], [[uncertainty]], [[probabilistic-thinking]], **Source** -- [[20241114100017 - B - Help!]]