My take: This is the second post I’ve come upon recently wherein it reminds you of the power of search; i.e. filtering on
power phrases that may create combinations of thoughts and ideas otherwise never had.
I’ve begun keeping a log of such power phrases. Does anyone know if there’s an open public repository for such phrases? That’d be useful. If not, I’m happy to set up a Google Doc or Github Repo or whatever is best (if there’s significant interest).
My own usual practice when using a phrase I've coined (or think I've coined) is to reference it with "what I call", to indicate that this is a (possibly) non-standard or novel useage. That's a practice I've encountered by numerous others in writing, and serves both to claim credit and give notice to the reader that the usage may not be widespread.
And if it's not clear what the phrase means, then yes, giving a brief definition or noting its inspiration can be quite useful.
Now that you've clarified all of that ....
I'm not sure "power phase" does much here. Or maybe that it doesn't do what you'd like it to do.
You wrote:
"This is the second post I’ve come upon recently wherein it reminds you of the power of search; i.e. filtering on power phrases that may create combinations of thoughts and ideas otherwise never had."
The first part, "the power of search", doesn't rely on "power phrases" at all, but simply full-text search, a/k/a phrase search. (As opposed, say, to simply listing words which might be joined by AND or OR logic without respect to position within the string.)
The second bit, "create combinations of thoughts and ideas otherwise never had", gives more potency, but:
1. All language creates thoughts and ideas in the mind of the reader or listener at the initiative of the writer or speaker.
2. "Power" carries strong implications of coercion or manipulation. Themselves common practices in sales and marketing.
3. There's a room for the notion of inspiring or motivating or unlocking new thoughts in a discussion, and some of the more productive uses of "why don't you just" might land in this region. (The less-productive uses tend to display lazy thinking or ignorance.) The classic example (mentioned by someone else in this thread) is of the Gordian Knot: solving a complex problem by shifting the solution domain entirely. Again, "power' seems to me a poor choice here as it suggests to me merely increasing the effort as opposed to seeking a different route.
I'd look for a word with meaning more along the lines of "inspiration" or "muse" or "stimulating" or "unlocking".
Wow! Thank you for the feedback and taking the time to go into detail. I hope it helps others, as well. I’d like to take a closer look at this in the coming days when I have more energy to go through in detail. I’m just now seeing this at 12:26 am after working all day (much of it researching concepts related to philosophy and linguistics; which, I’m a complete noob in).
I’m very fortunate that the time I spent in my 20’s doing media buying and copywriting have allotted me funds to spend my 30’s researching and reading whatever the heck I want.
I've now read through your reply in detail. Thank you again for sharing.
> My own usual practice when using a phrase I've coined (or think I've coined) is to reference it with "what I call"
I will begin using this practice myself; I wish I had known about it 5 years ago, which is when it seems you first started using it on HN!
> All language creates thoughts and ideas in the mind of the reader or listener at the initiative of the writer or speaker.
Yes; however my point centers on the phenomenon of certain phrases that, when searched across different disciplinary fields, unlock or stimulate thoughts or ideas that would have otherwise been more difficult to link together. This is made possible because certain phrases are strongly correlated with invoking a specific concept. [1]
For instance, the use of the phrase "why don't you just" invokes the concept of cutting the Gordian Knot. [2]
> "Power" carries strong implications of coercion or manipulation. Themselves common practices in sales and marketing.
On this, we could go way down the rabbit hole and spend a lot of time discussing this. It touches on values, philosophy, ethics, and is really based on opinion. I will say, I agree with you in how you seem to present coercion and manipulation as distasteful. However, there are many people with incredible thoughts and ideas who will never be heard. There are many amazing products that will never be seen. The battle is for human attention. Marketers and salespeople are good at getting it. Yes, there are those who use coercive and manipulative means to do so. I did at one point in my career. But I've learned the hard way (Facebook/Google Ad Suspensions), that the best route is to not do such a thing. Many people learn the hard way, but don't learn, or course-correct. They devise new schemes and tactics for manipulating people (and in my opinion, these people can go to hell).
> "the power of search" [and] "power phrase"
I would refine my language and eliminate the term "power". The main point is that the parent post shows the utility of phrase search and regular expressions for unlocking general, global patterns in language, in that certain phrases are strongly correlated with invoking certain concepts ("why not just" <=> cutting Gordian Knot), and when one observes such phases shown side-by-side across different disciplinary fields, it stimulates thinking that otherwise would have been more difficult to link together.
It somewhat reminds me of Niklas Luhmann's philosophy with his Zettelkasten Note Box for research. He relies on randomness and patterns of concepts across different disciplinary fields, which otherwise wouldn't have been unlocked:
> for even the creation of random suggestions requires organization, and if only in order to be sufficient for the demands of speed, accumulation and probability of success, which are necessary within a dynamic society. [3]
Those are my thoughts.
Now... on how to simplify this concept, and/or what actual utility and value one mine from it... well... that's a whole other thing!
[1]: Thanks for this recommendation on unlock or stimulate
[2]: I had not heard of the Gordian Knot before; thanks for sharing. It was fun to research and learn about. If you see this, I'd love to know how you first came to learn about it?
The other post of similar essence is this one: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27060816
I’ve begun keeping a log of such power phrases. Does anyone know if there’s an open public repository for such phrases? That’d be useful. If not, I’m happy to set up a Google Doc or Github Repo or whatever is best (if there’s significant interest).