Ratio Difficilis



Charles Murtaugh wrote:

"Speaking of Gibson, I've just started his latest novel, Pattern Recognition, which is set not in the onrushing future but right here and now. (Actually, I think it is set last year, which is a trip: not only have we arrived in Gibson-land at last, but we're already on to something new.)
I haven't read any of Gibson's recent sci-fi novels, although I've re-read his older ones many times over, and I was plenty nervous that he not screw up what appears to be a bid for mainstream cred. And at first, Pattern Recognition is both disconcerting and tense for the Gibson fanatic: did he just use the term "Google" as a verb? (Yes, right there on page two!) Be careful, Bill! It's one thing to make up your own techie lingo (the only reason we don't all use the word "simstim" is that, unlike "cyberspace," it hasn't quite been invented) and brand name celebrities ("Sony Mao"), but please don't impale yourself on the real thing!"

And I ask: aren´t contents and expressions both part of a semiotic game? Is language an untouchtable godness?