sem

slightly edited & published as a tweetstorm here:

This has me thinking about the potential relationship, etymologically or morphologically, between:
- "seems"
- "semantic"

seems they have unrelated roots—so close though!

I have for some time wished for a word that could be used like "thinking" or "feeling" but had connotations more of meaning-making instead.

"It seems to me" is close but doesn't lend itself to replacing "I think ____"

"suppose", "reckon", "figure", "interpret", "construe" ...?

Korzybski proposed "semantic reactions" (which he abbreviates "s.r.") which is exactly the thing I'm looking for—as I recall, it may have been what inspired the search—except WAY too cumbersome.

"I'm having a semantic reaction that ____" 🧐

twitter.com/Malcolm_Ocean/status/997967553405292544

Might need to coin a new word to intertwingle thinking & feeling: what about "sem"?

I sem that might work actually!

sem, v.​
to have a semantic reaction

sem, v​.transitive
to have a semantic reaction of, about, or in relation to

#neologisms

I'm semming about how we typically ask:
"how do you feel?" vs
"what do you think?"

Feels to me like either could be used with "sem", and they'd carry different meanings:
"how do you sem?" → meta, withness
"what do you sem?" → content, aboutness

twitter.com/Malcolm_Ocean/status/1134976325029113856

The presence of these two meanings invites the awareness that we can't be thinking *about* something, without thinking about it *in a particular way*.

There's no what without a how.

Everything is in relation. This is what Korzybski was pointing at w/ "semantic reaction"

I'm valuing having "sem" defined by reference to "semantic reaction" although of course a formal definition—especially of a #neologism—is unlikely to capture the in-practice-meaning of a word.

Yet I also think that if Korzybski had been developing general semantics not in the 30s but *after* cybernetics & systems theory emerged in the 60s, then he would have used a term other than "reaction", which feels sort of behaviorist—stimulus & response.
twitter.com/Malcolm_Ocean/status/1256591216189333504

I'm thus inclined to suggest "semantic interaction" as a replacement for "semantic reaction", which will probably go without contest as almost nobody was using "semantic reaction" in the first place.

So then:

sem, v.
to have a semantic interaction

according to this site, Korz actually found himself later regretting his own use of the term "semantic"

For another exploration into queering thinking & feeling, check out this emoji concept I've mocked up.

Could use someone to actually take it through the proposal stage—I have a ton on the go and haven't yet found time to write it up, but I'd love to help.
twitter.com/Malcolm_Ocean/status/1228442604083261441

re I'm thus inclined to suggest "semantic interaction" as a replacement for "semantic reaction", which will probably go without contest as almost nobody was using "semantic reaction" in the first place.

So then:

sem, v.
to have a semantic interaction