quote:

'You Just Don't Understand' ó Deborah Tannen. Ar léigh tú é? Is brea liom an méid a scríobh sí faoi meta-messages.

Dúirt Caitríona é sin i snáithe eile. Teangeolaithe atá ionaib beirt. An féidir libh meta-messages a mhíniú dom?

Well, I've never encountered the term "meta-message", so I couldn't tell whether it's related or not to "metalanguage".

To use a "metalanguage" is basically to use language in order to analyze or describe language.

Language is for "saying things", "metalanguage" is for "saying things about language".

This is exactly what I am doing in this post: using language to explain a word: "metalanguage"...

Tháinig sé sna gháth chaint ó lucht ríomhaireachta:

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=meta

quote:

meta
/me't*/ or /may't*/ or (Commonwealth) /mee't*/ A
prefix meaning one level of description higher. If X is some
concept then meta-X is data about, or processes operating on,
X.

For example, a metasyntax is syntax for specifying syntax,
metalanguage is a language used to discuss language,
meta-data is data about data, and meta-reasoning is
reasoning about reasoning.

This is difficult to explain briefly, but much hacker humour
turns on deliberate confusion between meta-levels.

[Jargon File]

(1999-04-06)