Date: Wed, 07 Jan 1998 13:26:13 -0500
From: Reg Lilly <rlilly-AT-scott.skidmore.edu>
Subject: Re: PLC: Syllepsis [was Anaphora?]


I would agree with Tom, that what we have here is not a tautology, namely an
apparent, specious difference, but a substantive difference that at first blush
seems to be none.  I like Tom's example and explanation of 

> "que sera, sera"  [which] invites
> progress from a truism about the future, to the controversial
> philosophical doctrine of fatalism, and similarly with "a man's gotta do
> what a man's gotta do," which moves from truism to role determinism. "It
> isn't over till it's over" plays on the ambiguity that "over" may mean
> "hopeless" and "terminated." 

	... yes, I think that one way to think about (and perhaps to discover/concoct a
'fancy Greek word' for) this is as a movement of determination, just enough to
come off like a tautology, in which there is no determination, but not be a
tautology.  I'll have to think about what Greek words might come into play
here.  Wish Michael Chase were around!

Ciao,
Reg


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