Post 10: Further specifications about some objects being quiet

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It occurred to me that to say “some objects are quiet” (Post 1) is to imply that those objects do actually exist on a spectrum of volume, within a realm of sounds--taking place at some point on a line that runs from “silent” to “impossibly loud.” (How do you know when/whether or not to include “silent” on a volume spectrum?)

I think when I said “some objects are quiet” I actually meant to say something like “some objects are not sound” or that “some objects have no access to sound.” I think it makes sense to say that these objects are off the sound spectrum entirely. Farther to the left than silent.

Though, I also wonder if it could actually be worthwhile to describe objects of this sort with this word--to apply a sound-term to an item that specifically doesn’t exist in the domain of sound. Maybe there is a way to assign the word quiet to an object without it having to do with the object's actual sounds, or lack of them. That if you look at five objects, none of which are making any sounds, and call one quiet, it expresses something other than its soundlessness. I'm not sure what.

It definitely seems possible to call an object quiet in order to convey that it's dim, or concealed, or small (things in the same vain as quietness?), but I wonder what it does to invoke this sort of meaning by using quiet rather than these other words--if it does something for the word quiet to be the one to suggest these ideas, instead of any one of the others. Or maybe I mostly wonder if you can describe an object as quiet in a way that isn't to say that it's not making any sound and also isn't just to connect the object with qualities this word is related to (qualities again like dim or concealed, or mild, secretive, etc.). This may be to ask if there is a kind of meaning between a word's literal explanation and it's farther-reaching associations. More distant than its dictionary definition but closer than its synonyms. Something that falls in the middle of being congruent and being similar.

1. Quiet in its most direct definition as a certain low level of sound

2. ?

3. Quiet in its least direct definition as other qualities it is associated with


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