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From:wsmith@wordsmith.org
To:linguaphile@wordsmith.org
Subject:A.Word.A.Day--Zeno's paradox
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Date:Mon, 4 Sep 2000 17:03:00 -0700 (PDT)

Zeno's paradox (ZEE-no PAR-uh-doks) noun

Any of various versions of a paradox regarding the relation of the
discrete to the continuous and requiring the concept of limit for its
satisfactory explanation.

[After Zeno of Elea, circa 490-430 B.C.]

"Oh, if you're looking
for a timetable, it's there, in that train, that's now
two feet away, now one, but will never obstruct
or demolish us. Thank heaven for Zeno's paradox!"
John Ashbery, Love in boots, The American Poetry Review, Jan 2, 1995.

This week's theme: syndromes, paradoxes, laws, and principles.

.............................................................................
Wit makes its own welcome, and levels all distinctions. No dignity, no
learning, no force of character, can make any stand against good wit. -Ralph
Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

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Pronunciation:
http://wordsmith.org/words/zenos_paradox.wav
http://wordsmith.org/words/zenos_paradox.ram