. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .......................... . . . . . . . . . . ........... . . . . ........... beach . . . . beach .. . . . oh beach. . . . what a beach . . . what a paradise . . . . a real paradise . . . genuine and true and virtual . . . . really virtual . . . . a paradise of applied linguistics . . . . heaven for practical linguistics . . . . . . . this is the place where we can calmly, with no haste at all, in the most profound, vastest and deepest calm and peace of mind, walking from horizon to horizon like a bear in a cage of infinity, devote ourselves to solve the problem fundamentally distressing and disturbing: which words are water, and which words are sand? . . . . . . . let's take barnacle – water or sand? foam – water or sand? castle – sand or water? . . . . . . . or lying motionlessly – or when the body is lying and the mind is ceaselessly wandering – wonder which phrases, which sentences, are water pouring, and which sentences and phrases are sand spilling . . . . which books are desert, and which books are ocean . . . . . . . . then bury the body in the sand up to the neck . . . then put the head into water . . . . . . . . . . . fish – sand or water? - - - - - - - seagull – sand or water? ~ ~ ~ or wind? ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~    ~~~~~~  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~ ~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~ ~ ~ ~  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~   ~ ~ ~   ~  ~ ~ ~     ~   ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~       ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~