E-Prime (short for English-Prime, sometimes denoted E′) is a version of the English language that excludes all forms of the verb to be. E-Prime does not allow conjugations of to be (am, are, is, was, were, be, been, being), archaic forms (e.g. art, wast, wert), or contractions ('s, 'm, 're).
Some scholars advocate using E-Prime as a device to clarify thinking and strengthen writing. For example, the sentence "the film was good" could translate into E-Prime as "I liked the film" or as "the film made me laugh". The E-Prime versions communicate the speaker's experience rather than judgment, making it harder for the writer or reader to confuse opinion with fact.
D. David Bourland, Jr. (1928–2000) proposed E-Prime as an addition to Alfred Korzybski's general semantics some years after Korzybski's death in 1950. Bourland, who had studied under Korzybski, coined the term in a 1965 essay entitled A Linguistic Note: Writing in E-Prime (originally published in the General Semantics Bulletin). The essay quickly generated controversy within the general semantics field, partly because practitioners of general semantics sometimes saw Bourland as attacking the verb 'to be' as such, and not just certain usages.
Robert Anton Wilson (born Robert Edward Wilson, January 18, 1932 – January 11, 2007), known to friends as "Bob", was an American author and polymath who became at various times a novelist, philosopher, psychologist, essayist, editor, playwright, poet, futurist, civil libertarian and self-described agnostic mystic. Recognized as an episkopos, pope, and saint of Discordianism, Wilson helped publicize the group through his writings, interviews, and strolls.[clarification needed]
Wilson described his work as an "attempt to break down conditioned associations, to look at the world in a new way, with many models recognized as models or maps, and no one model elevated to the truth". His goal being "to try to get people into a state of generalized agnosticism, not agnosticism about God alone but agnosticism about everything" (cf. solipsism, acatalepsia, Pyrrhonism).
"Is", "is." "is"—the idiocy of the word haunts me. If it were abolished, human thought might begin to make sense. I don't know what anything "is"; I only know how it seems to me at this moment.
Giacomo Girolamo Casanova de Seingalt (Italian pronunciation: [ˈdʒakomo kasaˈnɔva]; 2 April 1725 – 4 June 1798) was an Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice. His autobiography, Histoire de ma vie (Story of My Life), is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of the customs and norms of European social life during the 18th century.[attribution needed]
He has become so famous for his often complicated and elaborate affairs with women that his name is now synonymous with "womanizer". He associated with European royalty, popes and cardinals, along with luminaries such as Voltaire, Goethe and Mozart. He spent his last years in Bohemia as a librarian in Count Waldstein's household, where he also wrote the story of his life.
Giacomo Girolamo Casanova was born in Venice in 1725 to actress Zanetta Farussi, wife of actor and dancer Gaetano Giuseppe Casanova. Giacomo was the first of six children, being followed by Francesco Giuseppe (1727–1803), Giovanni Battista (1730–1795), Faustina Maddalena (1731–1736), Maria Maddalena Antonia Stella (1732–1800), and Gaetano Alvise (1734–1783).
Oh yeah, you've been to India, where you took some drugs.
Well do you think I care ?
Oh yeah, you've been to the States.
New York to L.A. you had it all on a plate.
Hey, hey, you bore me, hey, hey, with your stories.
Hey, hey, you bore me, hey, hey, I've heard it all before.
So what, you're a friend to the stars.
Fast girls and fast cars, and all the V.I.P. bars.
So what, you've got money to burn, I've heard it all before.
When will you learn ?
Oh yeah, you've been to India, where you took some drugs.
Well do you think I care ?
Oh yeah, you've been to the States.
New York to L.A. you had it all on a plate.
Hey, hey, you bore me, hey, hey, with your stories.
Hey, hey, you bore me, hey, hey, I've heard it all before.
So what, you're a friend to the stars.
Fast girls and fast cars, and all the V.I.P. bars.
So what, you've got money to burn, I've heard it all before.