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Nonsense is a communication, via speech, writing, or any other symbolic system, that lacks any coherent meaning. Sometimes in ordinary usage, nonsense is synonymous with absurdity or the ridiculous. Many poets, novelists and songwriters have used nonsense in their works, often creating entire works using it for reasons ranging from pure comic amusement or satire, to illustrating a point about language or reasoning. In the philosophy of language and philosophy of science, nonsense is distinguished from sense or meaningfulness, and attempts have been made to come up with a coherent and consistent method of distinguishing sense from nonsense. It is also an important field of study in cryptography regarding separating a signal from noise.

Literary nonsense[link]

The phrase "Colorless green ideas sleep furiously" was coined by Noam Chomsky as an example of nonsense. The individual words make sense and are arranged according to proper grammatical rules, yet the result is nonsense. The inspiration for this attempt at creating verbal nonsense came from the idea of contradiction (for a start, how can a green idea be colorless?) and seemingly irrelevant and/or incompatible characteristics, which conspire to make the phrase meaningless. The phrase "the square root of Tuesday" operates on the latter principle. This principle is behind the inscrutability of the kōan "What is the sound of one hand clapping?", where one hand would presumably be insufficient for clapping without the intervention of another.

James Joyce’s final novel Finnegans Wake uses nonsense in a seemingly similar yet dissimilar way: full of portmanteau and strong words, it appears to be pregnant with multiple layers of meaning, but in many passages it is difficult to say whether any one human’s interpretation of a text could be the intended or unintended one.

Nonsense verse[link]

Jabberwocky, a poem (of nonsense verse) found in Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll (1871), is a nonsense poem written in the English language. The word jabberwocky is also occasionally used as a synonym of nonsense.^{[citation needed]}

Nonsense verse is the verse form of literary nonsense, a genre that can manifest in many other ways. Its best-known exponent is Edward Lear, author of The Owl and the Pussycat and hundreds of limericks.

Nonsense verse is part of a long line of tradition predating Lear: the nursery rhyme Hey Diddle Diddle could also be termed a nonsense verse. There are also some works which appear to be nonsense verse, but actually are not, such as the popular 1940s song Mairzy Doats.

Lewis Carroll, seeking a nonsense riddle, once posed the question How is a raven like a writing desk?. Someone answered him, Because Poe wrote on both. However, there are other possible answers (e.g. both have inky quills).

Lines of nonsense frequently figure in the refrains of folksongs, where nonsense riddles and knock-knock jokes are often encountered.

Examples[link]

The first verse of Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll;

<poem> 'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe; All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe. </poem>

The first four lines of On the Ning Nang Nong by Spike Milligan;^[1]

<poem> On the Ning Nang Nong Where the cows go Bong! and the monkeys all say BOO! There's a Nong Nang Ning </poem>

The first verse of Spirk Troll-Derisive by James Whitcomb Riley;^[2]

<poem> The Crankadox leaned o'er the edge of the moon, And wistfully gazed on the sea Where the Gryxabodill madly whistled a tune To the air of "Ti-fol-de-ding-dee." </poem>

The first four lines of The Mayor of Scuttleton by Mary Mapes Dodge;^[2]

<poem> The Mayor of Scuttleton burned his nose Trying to warm his copper toes; He lost his money and spoiled his will By signing his name with an icicle quill; </poem>

The first four lines of Oh Freddled Gruntbuggly by Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz; a creation of Douglas Adams

<poem> Oh freddled gruntbuggly, Thy micturations are to me As plurdled gabbleblotchits on a lurgid bee. Groop I implore thee, my foonting turlingdromes </poem>

Philosophy of language and of science[link]

In the philosophy of language and the philosophy of science, nonsense refers to a lack of sense or meaning. Different technical definitions of meaning delineate sense from nonsense.

Logical positivism[link]

Operationalism[link]

Wittgenstein[link]

In Ludwig Wittgenstein's writings, the word "nonsense" carries a special technical meaning which differs significantly from the normal use of the word. In this sense, "nonsense" does not refer to meaningless gibberish, but rather to the lack of sense in the context of sense and reference. In this context, logical tautologies, and purely mathematical propositions may be regarded as "nonsense". For example, "1+1=2" is a nonsensical proposition.^[3]

It is important to note that here "nonsense" does not necessarily carry negative connotations. Indeed, Wittgenstein wrote in Tractatus Logico Philosophicus that some of the propositions contained in his own book should be regarded as nonsense.^[4]

Cryptography[link]

The problem of distinguishing sense from nonsense is important in cryptography and other intelligence fields. For example, they need to distinguish signal from noise. Cryptanalysts have devised algorithms to determine whether a given text is in fact nonsense or not. These algorithms typically analyze the presence of repetitions and redundancy in a text; in meaningful texts, certain frequently used words—for example, the, is and and in a text in the English language—will recur. A random scattering of letters, punctuation marks and spaces will not exhibit these regularities. Zipf's law attempts to state this analysis mathematically. By contrast, cryptographers typically seek to make their cipher texts resemble random distributions, to avoid telltale repetitions and patterns which may give an opening for cryptanalysis.

It is harder for cryptographers to deal with the presence or absence of meaning in a text in which the level of redundancy and repetition is higher than found in natural languages (for example, in the mysterious text of the Voynich manuscript).

Teaching machines to talk nonsense[link]

Scientists have attempted to teach machines to produce nonsense. The Markov chain technique is one method which has been used to generate texts by algorithm and randomizing techniques that seem meaningful. Another method is sometimes called the Mad Libs method: it involves the creation of templates for various sentence structures, and filling in the blanks with noun phrases or verb phrases; these phrase-generation procedures can be looped to add recursion, giving the output the appearance of greater complexity and sophistication. Racter was a computer program which generated nonsense texts by this method; however, Racter’s book, The Policeman’s Beard is Half Constructed, proved to have been the product of heavy human editing of the program's output.

See also[link]

Notes[link]

1. ^ "Top poetry is complete nonsense". BBC News. 10 October 1998. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/190291.stm. 
2. ^ ^{a b} A Nonsense Anthology collected by Carolyn Wells from Project Gutenberg
3. ^ Schroeder, Severin (2006). Wittgenstein: the way out of the fly-bottle. Polity. p. 110. ISBN 978-0-7456-2615-4. http://books.google.com/books?id=md-KV6HUueUC&pg=PA110&lpg=PA110&dq=wittgenstein+tautology+nonsense. 
4. ^ Biletzki, Anat and Anat Matar, "Ludwig Wittgenstein", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2008 Edition) "The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy"

References[link]

• Kahn, David, The Codebreakers (Scribner, 1996) ISBN 0-684-83130-9
• Rylin, Munzing, "Aliens Abroad" (Doppelhouse, 1971) ISBN 0-345-66709-5

External links[link]

• Textual analysis of nonsense poems
• Text of a nonsense drama

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Patrice Rushen
Patrice Rushen performing on March 2, 2010
Background information
Birth name	Patrice Louise Rushen
Born	(1954-09-30) September 30, 1954 (age 57) Los Angeles, California, United States
Genres	Jazz, jazz fusion, R&B, jazz-funk, pop, soul, post-disco, urban
Occupations	Musician, composer, record producer, music director, educator
Instruments	Vocals, piano, keyboardist, flute, clarinet, percussion
Years active	1972–present
Labels	Prestige, Elektra, Arista, GRP, Aix Entertainment, Discovery
Website	www.patricerushen.com

Patrice Rushen (born Patrice Louise Rushen, September 30, 1954, Los Angeles, California)^[1] is a Grammy Award-winning R&B and jazz vocalist, composer and pianist.

Biography[link]

Rushen is the elder of two daughters born to the late Allen Rushen and the former Ruth Harris.^[1] She demonstrated her musical potential at a young age; she was regarded as a child prodigy. In her teens, she attended south LA's Locke High and went on to earn a degree in music from the University of Southern California.^[2]

Rushen has many ground-breaking achievements. She became the first woman to serve as head composer/musical director for the Grammy Awards and the Emmy Awards, and the first woman to serve as musical director for the NAACP Image Awards' broadcast, an honor she held for twelve consecutive years. Additionally, Rushen has been the only woman to be a musical director/composer for the People's Choice Awards, HBO's Comic Relief and the only woman musical director/conductor/arranger for a late-night television talk show, The Midnight Hour.

In addition, Rushen was named musical director/composer for Newsweek's first American Achievement Awards, broadcast on CBS from the Kennedy Center and she served as the musical director for Janet Jackson's janet. World Tour.

In 2008, Rushen accepted a professorship at the Berklee College of Music, in Boston. The course is "Patrice Rushen: The Value of Music Education."

She also continues to play keyboards and has played in the touring bands of Lee Ritenour and Wayne Shorter in recent years.

Solo career[link]

Rushen has also achieved great success as a singer. A classically trained pianist, Rushen has spent a great deal of time channeling her skills musically. Winning a competition at the 1972 Monterey Jazz Festival gained Rushen national attention, which earned her a recording contract with Prestige Records in 1973.

After recording three albums and becoming an in-demand session player, with artists that included Jean-Luc Ponty, Rushen signed with Elektra Records in 1978. Forging jazz/R&B/funk fusion, her signature sound from the melding of these styles gave her success with a string of Top Ten R&B hits, including "Haven't You Heard," "Forget Me Nots," "Feels So Real," "Watch Out," "You Remind Me," and "Never Gonna Give You Up" from her first five solo albums (Patrice, Pizzazz, Posh, Straight From the Heart, and Now). Rushen guested on Soul Train, where she performed her single "I Need Your Love" in 1981. She also penned the opening theme for The Steve Harvey Show. Her mentor and friend is Quincy Jones. Rushen also plays multiple instruments including the flute, clarinet and various kinds of percussion.

Discography[link]

This section requires expansion.

With Lalo Schifrin

• No One Home (Tabu, 1979)

Samples and covers[link]

• Her 1982 hit song "Forget Me Nots" has been sampled several times. The most notable has been its inclusion as the driving musical element in Will Smith's "Men In Black", the theme to the 1997 film of the same name. The song won a Grammy Award, which co-writers Freddie Washington and Terry McFaddin also shared. Also in 1996, "Forget Me Nots" was featured prominently in the bridge of George Michael's #1 hit "Fastlove."

• The 1998 hit "Strawberries" by female rapper Smooth samples "Where There Is Love" from Rushen's 1982 album Straight From The Heart.

• "Haven't You Heard" was sampled prominently into gospel artist Kirk Franklin's 2005 hit "Looking For You," with gospel lyrics written by Franklin. The song was also interpolated into Zhane's early 1990s hit "Groove Thang." It was also prominently featured in House track "I feel good things for you" by Daddies favourite.

• Musiq Soulchild covered Rushen's "Settle For My Love", as a duet with sibling group Aaries on 2000 debut album Aijuswanaseing.

• "Remind Me" from her 1982 album, Straight from the Heart, was sampled by 9th Wonder on the remix of "The Cross", from the 9th Wonder remix album, God's Stepson.

• On her 1995 debut album Faith (Faith Evans album), singer-songwriter Faith Evans used a sample from "Remind Me" on the song "Fallin' In Love".

• The 1995 single "Temperature's Rising" from Mobb Deep sampled "Where There Is Love".

• In 1994 Long Beach rapper Lil' ½ Dead released the album The Dead Has Arisen. Track #2 "12 Pacofdoja" contained a sample of "Where There Is Love", modified into the G-Funk style of the era.

• Rapper Danny! sampled "When I Found You" on Danny Is Dead 's "Press Conference", "The Dream" on "Lucky Me" from Dream, Extinguished, and "Yolon" from Dream, Fulfilled 's "Le Pamplemousse".

• On their final album Nuttin' But Love in 1994, Heavy D & The Boyz sampled "You Remind Me" on their song "Take Your Time".

• In 1992, R. Kelly featuring group Public Announcement used a sample of "Remind Me" for the song "Born into the 90's" from Kelly's debut collaboration album of the same name.

• Producer Clark Kent uses a sample of "Remind Me" for the Junior M.A.F.I.A. song "I Need You Tonight" featuring Aaliyah.

• Sacramento rapper Brotha Lynch Hung sampled "Remind Me" on his 1992 ep 24 Deep, for the track "Walkin 2 My Funeral".

• The gangsta rap group RBL Posse also sampled "Remind Me" on their 1992 album, A Lesson to Be Learned, on their track also titled "Remind Me".

• Intelligent Hoodlum sampled "Remind Me" on his 1993 single "Grand Groove."

• Rapper Skee-Lo sampled "Remind Me" on his song "Top Of The Stairs".

• Keith Sweat's discovery group, Kut Klose used a sample "Remind Me" on their song "Keep On" on the 1995 acclaimed album, Surrender.

• Rapper Shyheim sampled "Settle for my Love" on his song Shaolin Style feat. Method Man

• Swedish DJ Eric Prydz and Australian producer Daniel R Muller released his single Pjanoo in 2008, which contains a piano riff inspired by Rushen's "I Was Tired Of Being Alone"

• Mary J. Blige's "You Remind Me" contains excerpts of Rushen's "Remind Me."

• SWV's "I'm So Into You" contains excerpts of Rushen's "Remind Me."

Awards[link]

1. ASCAP Songwriter's Award, 1988
2. USC Black Student Assembly, Legacy of Excellence Award, 1992
3. Crystal Award, American Women in Film, 1994
4. ASCAP Award, Most Performed Song in Motion Pictures for 1997 for "Men in Black," 1998

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

Singles[link]

Filmography[link]

Musical directing[link]

• The 48th Annual Grammy Awards (2006) (TV) (musical director)
• The 47th Annual Grammy Awards (2005) (TV) (musical director)
• The 10th Annual Walk of Fame Honoring Smokey Robinson (2004) (TV) (musical director)
• The 46th Annual Grammy Awards (2004) (TV) (musical director)
• The 9th Annual Walk of Fame Honoring Aretha Franklin (2003) (TV) (musical director)
• The 8th Annual Walk of Fame Honoring Stevie Wonder (2002) (TV) (musical director)
• The Best of Robert Townsend & His Partners in Crime (1991) (TV) (musical director)
• "No Strings" by "Sheena Easton"- Rushen as record producer. (1993)
• The Women of Brewster Place (1989) (TV) (special musical consultant)
• The Midnight Hour (1990) TV Series Herself (Musical Director) (unknown episodes, 1990)
• Robert Townsend's HBO variety show series: "Partners in Crime" (1988) (TV) (musical director)

References[link]

• Hogan, Ed. "Patrice Rushen". VH1. http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/rushen_patrice/artist.jhtml. Retrieved 2007-05-09. 

External links[link]

• Official website
• Patrice Rushen at Allmusic
• Patrice Rushen discography at Discogs
• Patrice Rushen at the Internet Movie Database