45 points
Acquisitions by whatis 42
October 22nd, 2006 9:54 AM
I decided to use this task to examine what it means to "acquire" something, so I began by looking the word up in various dictionaries. This is what I found:
1 : to get as one's own: a : to come into possession or control of often by unspecified means b : to come to have as a new or added characteristic, trait, or ability (as by sustained effort or natural selection)
2 : to locate and hold (a desired object) in a detector
-www.mirriamwebster.com
1. to come into possession or ownership of; get as one's own: to acquire property.
2. to gain for oneself through one's actions or efforts: to acquire learning.
3. Linguistics. to achieve native or nativelike command of (a language or a linguistic rule or element).
4. Military. to locate and track (a moving target) with a detector, as radar.
-www.dictionary.com
But this doesn't really clarify things much. For example, if I already own all the ingredients for banana bread, does the act of making banana bread from those ingredients simply constitute a recombination of items previously acquired? Or does the making of banana bread mean that I have "lost" the ingredients and "acquired" banana bread? In some ways yes, but in other ways, no.
For another example, is sleep something one acquires? Since "get" can be a synonym for "acquire," and I "get" sleep almost every night, does that mean I acquire sleep with similar frequency? Conventional use of the term acquire says no, but the technical definition says yes.
Despite this confusion I have made a list of the weeks acquisitions. I included only those things that I really acquired, and as you will see some of them were not so obvious.
Sunday:
Banana bread (home-made from ingredients acquired in the past)
One half of 5 Soft tacos and 5 bean burritos from Taco bell (I shared them with another person so only one half was mine)
Monday:
Homework help
Mail
Tuesday:
Screen cover for my ipod: It was promised me a long time ago and has been sitting in my apartment the whole time, however I only acquired it today because it was not in my possession until today.
STATA (a statistical analysis program): I acquired this today even though I purchased it online a few days ago, because I didn't feel like I owned it until today.
Exercise Sign-in Sheets: I'm a grader for a sociology class, and they do exercises in class. They have to sign in to get their grade for the exercise, and today I picked up the sign-in sheets to grade.
The first symptoms of a new cold
Vapor chest rub (generic Vick's vapor rub)
Zicam (more cold treatment stuff)
Mail
Wednesday:
Half-Baked Ben & Jerry's ice cream
Mail
Airborne (vitamin-packed anti-cold stuff)
Tissues
Cheesy Pringles
Graduate Employee's and Student's Organization information packet (GESO is the as-yet-unrecognized Graduate employee's union here at Ohio State)
Feedback and praise on my research proposal from a professor
*I was going to include photocopies of two research articles, but I decided that these were not true acquisitions because I only copied them to give to my professor. I don't consider them acquisitions because I never claimed them for my own; I merely produced them to give to someone else.*
Thursday
mail
Friday:
Statistics book: also purchased previously online but not "acquired" until today.
Pad of paper
Pen
Free munchies (fruit, cheese, crackers, veggies & dip, that sort of thing)
Taco bell Bean Burrito & Soft Taco
Beer
Saturday:
Caramel Apple 3-pack
Donuts (stolen from Joe's supply that he acquired yesterday)
Absentee ballot! Yay! (and other mail)
Beer
After reviewing my acquisitions, especially the way I decided what counted as an acquisition, I've concluded that this task relates primarily to the concept of ownership. Acquisition, in my opinion, is the act of enforcing a claim to ownership. Everything I list above is something I acquired, not because I received it, purchased it, or took it, but because I claimed it for my own.
Looking back on the definitions of "acquire", this idea make sense. In each given definition, something acquired is something owned. For example, languages learned are languages acquired, and in the process of acquisition the language-learner claims the language as her own. Similarly, a target acquired in one's sight (or by one's radar) is claimed and owned by the targetter. This can also be seen in the way people speak about acquiring a target to kill: "it's mine!"
1 : to get as one's own: a : to come into possession or control of often by unspecified means b : to come to have as a new or added characteristic, trait, or ability (as by sustained effort or natural selection)
2 : to locate and hold (a desired object) in a detector
-www.mirriamwebster.com
1. to come into possession or ownership of; get as one's own: to acquire property.
2. to gain for oneself through one's actions or efforts: to acquire learning.
3. Linguistics. to achieve native or nativelike command of (a language or a linguistic rule or element).
4. Military. to locate and track (a moving target) with a detector, as radar.
-www.dictionary.com
But this doesn't really clarify things much. For example, if I already own all the ingredients for banana bread, does the act of making banana bread from those ingredients simply constitute a recombination of items previously acquired? Or does the making of banana bread mean that I have "lost" the ingredients and "acquired" banana bread? In some ways yes, but in other ways, no.
For another example, is sleep something one acquires? Since "get" can be a synonym for "acquire," and I "get" sleep almost every night, does that mean I acquire sleep with similar frequency? Conventional use of the term acquire says no, but the technical definition says yes.
Despite this confusion I have made a list of the weeks acquisitions. I included only those things that I really acquired, and as you will see some of them were not so obvious.
Sunday:
Banana bread (home-made from ingredients acquired in the past)
One half of 5 Soft tacos and 5 bean burritos from Taco bell (I shared them with another person so only one half was mine)
Monday:
Homework help
Tuesday:
Screen cover for my ipod: It was promised me a long time ago and has been sitting in my apartment the whole time, however I only acquired it today because it was not in my possession until today.
STATA (a statistical analysis program): I acquired this today even though I purchased it online a few days ago, because I didn't feel like I owned it until today.
Exercise Sign-in Sheets: I'm a grader for a sociology class, and they do exercises in class. They have to sign in to get their grade for the exercise, and today I picked up the sign-in sheets to grade.
The first symptoms of a new cold
Vapor chest rub (generic Vick's vapor rub)
Zicam (more cold treatment stuff)
Wednesday:
Half-Baked Ben & Jerry's ice cream
Airborne (vitamin-packed anti-cold stuff)
Tissues
Cheesy Pringles
Graduate Employee's and Student's Organization information packet (GESO is the as-yet-unrecognized Graduate employee's union here at Ohio State)
Feedback and praise on my research proposal from a professor
*I was going to include photocopies of two research articles, but I decided that these were not true acquisitions because I only copied them to give to my professor. I don't consider them acquisitions because I never claimed them for my own; I merely produced them to give to someone else.*
Thursday
Friday:
Statistics book: also purchased previously online but not "acquired" until today.
Pad of paper
Pen
Free munchies (fruit, cheese, crackers, veggies & dip, that sort of thing)
Taco bell Bean Burrito & Soft Taco
Beer
Saturday:
Caramel Apple 3-pack
Donuts (stolen from Joe's supply that he acquired yesterday)
Absentee ballot! Yay! (and other mail)
Beer
After reviewing my acquisitions, especially the way I decided what counted as an acquisition, I've concluded that this task relates primarily to the concept of ownership. Acquisition, in my opinion, is the act of enforcing a claim to ownership. Everything I list above is something I acquired, not because I received it, purchased it, or took it, but because I claimed it for my own.
Looking back on the definitions of "acquire", this idea make sense. In each given definition, something acquired is something owned. For example, languages learned are languages acquired, and in the process of acquisition the language-learner claims the language as her own. Similarly, a target acquired in one's sight (or by one's radar) is claimed and owned by the targetter. This can also be seen in the way people speak about acquiring a target to kill: "it's mine!"
You're a smart cookie, kiddo.