Thursday 18 November 2010

MU: the poststructuralist response

I read recently of the delightful Japanese word 'mu' and its Chinese equivalent, 'wu'. It means - simplified - that a yes or no answer is inappropriate because the context of the question is too small for the truth of the answer.

I intend to use this in seminars when asked dumb questions. Perhaps my students will use it when I ask them dumb questions.

2 comments:

neal said...

I expect Japanese politicians use it to great effect. I bet Michael Howard would have loved to have had such a word to fend off Paxman.

The Plashing Vole said...

That would have been wonderful.