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Embassytown

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Embassytown

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Highlights

  • This is what I excelled at: the life-technique of aggregated skill, luck, laziness and chutzpah that we call floaking. (Location 267)
  • Look instead at a map of the immer. Such a big and tidal quiddity. (Location 467)
  • A scholar can never let mere wrongness get in the way of the theory.” (Location 580)
  • homo diaspora. (Location 754)
  • Their language is organised noise, like all of ours are, but for them each word is a funnel. Where to us each word means something, to the Hosts, each is an opening. A door, through which the thought of that referent, the thought itself that reached for that word, can be seen. (Location 835)
  • “If I do the same with a word in Language, and play it to an Ariekes, I understand it, but to them it means nothing, because it’s only sound, and that’s not where the meaning lives. It needs a mind behind it.” (Location 838)
  • “Ambassadors are orators, and those to whom their oration happens are oratees. Oratees are addicts. Strung out on an Ambassador’s Language.” (Location 2561)
  • Each trapped in itself. God knew how many of them, a strike-force of the lonely and lost. (Location 4125)
  • As well as the Languageless and the SM, for self-mutilated, at first we called the incoming army the Deaf. Embassytown’s human deaf objected hard to that; they were right and we were ashamed. Then someone named the attackers according to an antique language. It meant that same word, deaf, but rendered the Surdae any insult seemed diluted; particularly because, fast bastardised or misunderstood, the term became the Surd and then misprisioned into the Absurd. Hosts, coming to kill us for sins we’d committed, if at all, without intent. (Location 4173)
  • “I don’t want to be a simile anymore,” I said. “I want to be a metaphor.” (Location 4506)
  • “Language is the continuation of coercion by other means.” (Location 4780)

public: true

title: Embassytown longtitle: Embassytown author: China Mieville url: , source: kindle last_highlight: 2018-03-09 type: books tags:

Embassytown

rw-book-cover

Metadata

Highlights

  • This is what I excelled at: the life-technique of aggregated skill, luck, laziness and chutzpah that we call floaking. (Location 267)
  • Look instead at a map of the immer. Such a big and tidal quiddity. (Location 467)
  • A scholar can never let mere wrongness get in the way of the theory.” (Location 580)
  • homo diaspora. (Location 754)
  • Their language is organised noise, like all of ours are, but for them each word is a funnel. Where to us each word means something, to the Hosts, each is an opening. A door, through which the thought of that referent, the thought itself that reached for that word, can be seen. (Location 835)
  • “If I do the same with a word in Language, and play it to an Ariekes, I understand it, but to them it means nothing, because it’s only sound, and that’s not where the meaning lives. It needs a mind behind it.” (Location 838)
  • “Ambassadors are orators, and those to whom their oration happens are oratees. Oratees are addicts. Strung out on an Ambassador’s Language.” (Location 2561)
  • Each trapped in itself. God knew how many of them, a strike-force of the lonely and lost. (Location 4125)
  • As well as the Languageless and the SM, for self-mutilated, at first we called the incoming army the Deaf. Embassytown’s human deaf objected hard to that; they were right and we were ashamed. Then someone named the attackers according to an antique language. It meant that same word, deaf, but rendered the Surdae any insult seemed diluted; particularly because, fast bastardised or misunderstood, the term became the Surd and then misprisioned into the Absurd. Hosts, coming to kill us for sins we’d committed, if at all, without intent. (Location 4173)
  • “I don’t want to be a simile anymore,” I said. “I want to be a metaphor.” (Location 4506)
  • “Language is the continuation of coercion by other means.” (Location 4780)