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1 " There wasn't a colloquial phrase, or curse, that went something like, " May your day be full of angry dragons" or, " May every dragon you meet today be pissed off." But, there should have been. "
2 " The silent adjustments to understand colloquial language are enormously complicated. "
― Ludwig Wittgenstein , Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
3 " Have you heard," he said " that many of our people believe if you know five colloquial expressions in their tribal language, they must always provide you with nourishment and shelter? But-" He paused as though to make sure she was paying attention. " But if you know fewer than five, they owe you not even a sip of water." She nodded, understanding his point, but he pressed it." Learn those five phrases, Miss Sweeney," he said. "
4 " McKusick's belief in this paradigm-the focus on disability rather than abnormalcy-was actualized in the treatment of patients in his clinic. Patients with dwarfism, for instance, were treated by an interdisciplinary team of genetic counselors, neurologists, orthopedic surgeons, nurses, and psychiatrists trained to focus on specific disabilities of persons with short stature. Surgical interventions were reserved to correct specific deformities as they arose. The goal was not to restore " normalcy" -but vitality, joy, and function. McKusic had rediscovered the founding principles of modern genetics in the realm of human pathology. In humans as in wild flies, genetic variations abounded. Here too genetic variants, environments, and gene-environment interactions ultimately collaborated to cause phenotypes-except in this case, the " phenotype" in question was disease. Here too some genes had partial penetrance and widely variable expressivity. One gene could cause many diseases, and one disease could be caused by many genes. And here too " fitness" could not be judged in absolutes. Rather the lack of fitness-illness [italicized, sic] in colloquial terms- was defined by the relative mismatch between an organism and environment. "
5 " Mission motto, sir," said Carrot cheerfully. " Morituri Nolumus Mori. Rincewind suggested it." " I imagine he did," said Lord Vetinari, observing the wizard coldly. " And would you care to give us a colloquial translation, Mr Rincewind?" " Er..." Rincewind hesitated, but there really was no escape. " Er... roughly speaking, it means, 'We who are about to die don't want to', sir. "
