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Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2014 August 12

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August 12

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"Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word"

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Wandering around Librarything I came across a book called "Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word" by Walter J. Ong. Apparently it is a real book, but is the title serious or an intentional piss-take? It sounds like something produced by the Postmodernist Generator. DuncanHill (talk) 00:20, 12 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Seems like a perfectly understandable, reasonable title to me. Things like writing, printing (and, today, online communication) are "technologies" in dealing with the word, and the idea seems to be that through the introduction of such technologies, the way people thought and dealt with language in general changed. What's wrong with that? Fut.Perf. ☼ 06:51, 12 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Well it assumes that there is a verb "to technologize". Is there? --85.119.25.27 (talk) 09:10, 12 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Yes. Fut.Perf. ☼ 09:22, 12 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Google Books finds four instances of the word "technologizing" from the 1950s. I can't find anything from earlier than that, and I didn't bother looking for other forms of the verb. So it's been attestable now for about 60 years. —Aɴɢʀ (talk) 11:15, 12 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Note that Ong studied under Marshall McLuhan at St. Louis U. That's an obviously McLuhanesque subtitle. The book iself is not without interest, though. Deor (talk) 12:22, 12 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Could anyone suggest a translation of the title in the sort of words that are used by normal, highly literate people (as opposed to linguists)? DuncanHill (talk) 14:57, 12 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]
How about "Spoken and written language - the impact of technology on communication"? --Nicknack009 (talk) 15:12, 12 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]
I'd read that! DuncanHill (talk) 15:13, 12 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]
"How the Computer Killed the Bard". μηδείς (talk) 17:20, 12 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]
"Teh way we sp33k an rite - 'puters an lulz" KägeTorä - (影虎) (Chin Wag) 18:15, 12 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Uhm, this is now getting miles away from what the book is actually about... Fut.Perf. ☼ 18:24, 12 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]
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