Sfdebris.net

What is Mu, and why do we need it?

Mu(or Wu) is an Asian word whose closest literal translation is "nothingness". However, that's not really accurate, because of the cultural meaning. It was a Zen Koan: An initiate asks a respected monk, "does a dog have a Buddha nature?" The monk responds "Mu".

The revelation you're supposed to hit on in the Koan is not that the monk is saying yes or no, but that the question is nothingness - it cannot be answered as formed. And that has morphed into mu being a response word, like "yes" or "no" - a word that means "your question is too flawed to be answered, because it contains incorrect assumptions."

I watch the news, I see media, and I see the questions, and I really wish that there was an answer "mu". "Your question is too muddled to have an answer. Please try again." English needs that so badly.

So like "not even wrong"?

TGLS wrote: ↑Thu Aug 27, 2020 12:53 am So like "not even wrong"?

Basically, but for questions, since it's a response to a question.

OK, DS9's got ya covered.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMLW6yj8XNY

TGLS wrote: ↑Thu Aug 27, 2020 2:15 am OK, DS9's got ya covered.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMLW6yj8XNY

I can just see someone answering "there are no stupid questions!" - probably among my least favorite slogans, that one. Hell, the fact that you tell people "that's a stupid question" and they'll probably spit that phrase out shows the problem. We don't have a developed cultural idea of "stupid questions", we think of questions as neutral.

There are questions that are either stupid or dishonest. But there are different shades of this.

"Have you stopped beating your wife yet" - there's something factually wrong with an implication of this question. There is an answer. I have not stopped beating my wife, so the answer is "No." In the same vein, I have not stopped running a three parsec marathon in Donald Duck underwear, standing on my head while juggling elephants, or ruling Mars. But that leaves the assumptions unchallenged, correcting the assumptions is tedious, and a quick, one-syllable dismissal would be nice.

Then there are questions that get their assumptions right but lose logical coherence. "How can you be against nun stir-fry while D.C. doesn't have statehood?" I'm against nun stir-fry, and D.C. doesn't have statehood, but I fail to see the logical connection and I suspect it's rather tenuous.

There are probably other cases.

I've seen "mu" suggested before. It's not a bad one, but it hasn't caught on. "Null" from computer science sort of fits... It's not an exact match but neither was "bit."

What does "nun stir-fry" mean? Or are we literally talking about cannibalizing nuns here?

Because people don't understand google:
https://www.justapinch.com/recipes/bread/sweet-bread/a-nuns-sigh-sweet-fried-puffs.html