Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!genrad!decvax!ittvax!dcdwest!benson
From: benson@dcdwest.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Subject: Self-reference
Message-ID: <206@dcdwest.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 6-Jun-83 15:35:47 EDT
Article-I.D.: dcdwest.206
Posted: Mon Jun  6 15:35:47 1983
Date-Received: Tue, 7-Jun-83 23:11:28 EDT
Lines: 34



In an ad I read recently, I came upon the sentence:

	"obsolescence is becoming obsolete"

Shades of Quine and Douglas Hofstadter! this sentence
means:

	"becoming obsolete is becoming obsolete"

which is either a tautology  or one of those sentence like

	this statement is false
or
	"Yields a falsehood when prepended by a quoted version
of itself" yields a falsehood when prepended by a quoted
version of itself.

with the nice twist that it only does so in the limit.

Peter Benson
decvax!ittvax!dcdwest!benson

PS.
	While I am at it, I would like to point out the neon sign
appearing in restaurant windows -

		___________
		|   BUD   |
		|  LIGHT  |
		___________

which is, of course, exactly what it is, a Bud light.