Talk:unthinkable
Latest comment: 4 years ago by Equinox in topic unthink + -able
Doesn't unthinkable also mean ideas which are not just socially unacceptable, but ideas which society actively blocks its citizens from thinking? For example, the society in Orwell's "1984" prohibits ideas about alternate governance, history, morality, etc. This is a stronger definition: an "unthinkable" idea is literally that; an idea that humans are blocked from thinking about.
- I don't think there's a distinction to be made there. In your example of 1984, Winston thinks all kind of things but just doesn't articulate them, he's not literally prevented from thinking them. In fact, that would defeat the whole premise behind the book. Mglovesfun (talk) 21:56, 29 May 2012 (UTC)
isn' unthink + -able also always possible? --Backinstadiums (talk) 10:28, 12 October 2019 (UTC)
- Not for the senses in real use, and in our entry. These are things that are "not thinkable", not "things you can unthink". It is impossible to unthink something once you have thought it! Equinox ◑ 11:25, 12 October 2019 (UTC)