{"id":87960,"date":"2015-07-20T15:05:01","date_gmt":"2015-07-20T19:05:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=87960"},"modified":"2015-07-20T17:28:27","modified_gmt":"2015-07-20T21:28:27","slug":"i-know-this-much-is-true","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/07\/20\/i-know-this-much-is-true\/","title":{"rendered":"I Know This Much Is True"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A_picture_is_worth_a_thousand_words\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Years ago, an old boyfriend of mine had an academic colleague. One day, he said, \u201cLanguage informs consciousness\u2014we know this.\u201d<\/p>\n

We found this sentence so hilarious that we incorporated it into our lives. Whenever either of us was being didactic or ponderous, we\u2019d catch ourselves and say, \u201cLanguage informs consciousness\u2014we know this.\u201d Sometimes we\u2019d just use parts of it: \u201cVarick Street runs North\u2013South\u2014we know this.\u201d It was a rhetorical device that functioned both to leaven the conversation and to end it. It was useful for sweeping, ludicrous generalizations\u2014\u201cdancing requires gum\u2014we know this\u201d\u2014and highly specific observations. \u201cCloves are the scepters of elves\u2014we know this.\u201d <\/p>\n

This is the definition of an in-joke: not that funny, requiring far more explanation than it\u2019s worth, specific to its moment. Certainly, other such witticisms in our repertoire died natural deaths: the restaurant sign that listed its age as \u201cold as hills,\u201d the nerd who referred to an ironic tee as a \u201cweird-type shirt,\u201d the old lady who almost made us miss a bus in Cornwall by asking the clerk \u201cHave you got \u2026 have you got \u2026 have you got \u2026 have you got \u2026 a bus?\u201d<\/p>\n

And yet, as one sometimes does, I carried \u201clanguage informs consciousness\u201d with me long after that guy and I had broken up. And after the initial labored explanations, future boyfriends took to it, as well. They found it funny, or at least knew I did. It became shorthand in all my relationships, an improbable golden thread of inanity that seemed immune to resentments and jealousies and the inevitable erosion of time.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure the original speaker had no memory whatsoever of the statement. Presumably, he said these sorts of things all the time. And I suppose what I am trying to say is, language does indeed inform consciousness. I\u2019m coming to know it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Sadie Stein is contributing editor of <\/em>The Paris Review, and the <\/em>Daily\u2019s correspondent.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Years ago, an old boyfriend of mine had an academic colleague. One day, he said, \u201cLanguage informs consciousness\u2014we know this.\u201d We found this sentence so hilarious that we incorporated it into our lives. Whenever either of us was being didactic or ponderous, we\u2019d catch ourselves and say, \u201cLanguage informs consciousness\u2014we know this.\u201d Sometimes we\u2019d just […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":178,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13115],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-our-daily-correspondent"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nI Know This Much Is True by Sadie Stein<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"July 20, 2015 \u2013 Years ago, an old boyfriend of mine had an academic colleague. 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