Ockham's Razor principle
MERMAIDS, manatees and a long time at sea – my old pal Tom
Dennen takes up last week's theme and notes also that last
Thursday's Thought for the day - "Once you have eliminated the
impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the
truth" – is attributed to Mr Spock, of Star Trek.
Mr Spock might well have said this in the Star Trek series but,
says Tom, it originates with William of Ockham (1287–1347),
who was an English Franciscan friar, scholastic philosopher and
theologian who wrote the Lex Parsimoniae, law of parsimony,
which produced the principle known as known as Ockham's Razor.
The principle states that among competing hypotheses that predict
equally well, the one with the fewest assumptions should be
selected.
Tom gives a practical example.
"Coming out of Durban Harbour on a yacht some years ago, we
had no choice but to apply this rule to a mermaid,(er, manatee)
we encountered after tying up on the south side of the channel,
something that had not been allowed before while the whaling
slipway was in use..
"Six of us clambered ashore to be met by a smiling local lass
holding up two six-packs of beer.
"The skipper took one look and yelled: 'A woman! We've been at
sea for six months!'
"At which she said: 'No, I'm just selling beer.' Then she dropped
both six-packs and fled."
Tom applies Ockham's Razor to the incident. Assumption: She
knew people would be tying up on the south side and there would
be a market for beer.
But I think William of Ockham is silent on the rest of it.
Ol' Tennessee
A MONOLOGUE comes this way from Tennessee:
"Today is my baby girl's 18th birthday. I be so glad that this be my
last child support payment. Month after month, year after year, all
those payments!
"So I call my baby girl, to come to my house, and when she get
there, I say: 'Baby girl, I want you to take this cheque over to yo
momma's house and tell her this be the last cheque she ever
be gettin' from me, and I want you to come back and tell me
the 'spression on yo momma's face.'
"So, my baby girl take the cheque over to her momma. I be
anxious to hear what she say, and bout the 'spression on her face.
"Baby girl walk through the door. I say: 'Now what yo momma
say 'bout that?'
" 'She say to tell you that you ain't my daddy ... and watch
the 'spression on yo face.'"
Names
I AM accosted by irrepressible sculptress Hannah Lurie, who tells
me a story about her son, also called Graham.
"When he was at school at Kearsney, he so hero-worshipped
Graeme Pollock that he changed the spelling of his own name. He
used it that way all through school.
"Then when he was writing matric we told him: 'This is official now.
You'd better get your name changed by deed poll.'
"He phoned a week later: 'I've decided to put the ham back.'"
Well done, Graham Lurie! You left the rather narrow band of
illustrious cricketers (Graeme Smith was another) to join the broad
swathe of illustrious rugby players, writers, artists and lovers of
ladies who use the correct spelling, Graham.
The name is a pronunciation of the town of Grantham in
Lincolnshire, England. It was taken to Scotland in the 12 century
by Sir William de Graham, who founded the Graham clan.
He didn't play cricket. Otherwise the clan name would have been
Graeme.
Derrieres
IAN GIBSON, poet laureate of Hillcrest, is so seized with the
pictures we had last week of a shapely derriere encased in a
fabric of enigmatic coloring that he quotes the poet Robert
Herrick:
A sweet disorder in the dress
Kindles in clothes a wantonness....
He then goes on to pen his own lines.
The Idler shows snapshots of derrieres,
Unlike restraints in yester-years;
When such behaviour
Was not in favour,
But, I'm sure, street shelters give three cheers.
Tailpiece
A PRIVATE detective is reporting to his female client.
Yesterday I followed your husband to two bars on Elm Street,
three on Maple and finally to the Humpmore Motel."
"I see. And d'you think that's grounds for divorce?"
"I'm not sure. He was following you."
Last word
There are lots of people who mistake their imagination for their
memory.
Josh Billings
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