Ways of Seeing – FYLC Fall 2018

verb

“to take part in or experience something along with others” -Merriam-Webster dictionary

The word was encountered through the reading “Wind Sand and Stars” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

The sentence that it was used in is “It is as if there were a natural law which ordained that to achieve this end, to refine the curve of a piece of furniture, or a ship’s keel, or the fuselage of an airplane, until gradually it partakes of the elementary purity of the curve of ‘a human breast or shoulder, there must be the experimentation of several generations of craftsmen. In anything at all, perfection is finally attained not when there is no longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away, when a body has been stripped down to its nakedness.”

The author is trying to contribute to the idea that it takes experimentation, exploration and discovery to achieve perfection. There is a-lot of effort, trial and error to achieve a final product before the object is perfect. When he utilizes the word partakes he’s using it to talk about how machines will “take part in “the element of purity in the curve in a human breast or shoulder”. Since purity means it’s not contaminated they’re trying to say that basically it takes time and effort until a machine can become simplified and perfect. It’s when all the unnecessary and extra parts are taken away and the machine functions as it should with only the important parts.

Definition

 

Weal (n.)

that which is best for someone or something, the common good.

On Merriam Webster, meaning “a sound, healthy and prosperous state”. I found this word in the passage  “the tool, Wind Sand and Stars“, by Antoine de Saint-Exupery.

“to join together for the common weal”.

this sentence now becomes “to join together or the common good”, as weal sounds like a shortening of “well being”,

Noun

“a fore-and-aft rigged boat with one mast and a single jib”- Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

The sentence the word is used in is “The man who assumes that there s an essential difference between sloop and the airplane lacks historic perspective.”

For the word ‘Sloop’ I now understand that it’s actually a name for an object, a type of sail boat to be exact, that has the front and back part of the boat with ropes that help support and move the masts. Along that within the sentence it was use in is to show the comparison between the boat and the airplane not being so different.

Merriam-Webster: Sloop

Plough is the British spelling of plow

noun

1. an implement used to cut, lift, and turn over soil especially in preparing a seedbed –Merriam Webster Dictonary
2.  a yoga pose assumed by lying on one’s back and swinging one’s legs over one’s head until the outstretched feet approach or touch the floor.  -Google Dictionary

The word was found from Saint-Exupery, Antoine de. “The Tool.” Wind, Sand and Stars. 1939.

The word plough was used to compare to someone believing that machines is the end. But machines are also tools that we will be using just like the plough that is used for farming.

I understand this word now because a plough is a tool that is used to modify  soils and are used in farms for farming. Comparing machines to it is just like saying it will be used the same way.

noun

“a loud confused noise”
– Cambridge University

This word was found in a little excerpt that Professor Spevack gave each student, to show each one of us a new word. So, I got the word tumult and the sentence it was used in was, “The element smacks the sides of the hull with a sound like a gong, and the pilot can sense this tumult in the quivering of his body.” In this context the pilot can feel a noise even through his body, and the previous even describe the noise as a “gong”.

noun

“the central body portion of an aircraft designed to accommodate the crew and the passengers or cargo” – Merriam-Webster dictionary

The word was encountered through the reading “Wind Sand and Stars” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

The sentence that this word was used in was “It is as if there were a natural law which ordained that to achieve this end, to refine the curve of a piece of furniture, or a ship’s keel, or the fuselage of an airplane, until gradually it partakes of the elementary purity of the curve of ‘a human breast or shoulder, there must be the experimentation of several generations of craftsmen. In anything at all, perfection is finally attained not when there is no longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away, when a body has been stripped down to its nakedness.”

The author was trying to convey the idea that perfection is only achieved when the object or machine is reduce to its most simplest state. They use the word fuselage to talk about the airplane which they then compare to a human breast or shoulder. This comparison is used to show that when the airplane’s body (the airplane as a whole), ship or furniture is easy to utilize and recognize it has reached perfection. Like for example you wouldn’t image a plane any other than its original shape that looks like a bullet with two wings attached on the sides. And if you did think about a airplane you wouldn’t think that it would do any other function than flying state to state.

Definition