Tuesday afternoon online an acquaintance inquired, “In the idiom ‘mir ist langweilig,’ is there an implied (es)?”
I provided an answer with which I was not entirely happy. I also came to the realization, while untangling said answer, that the question was tied to a couple more general issues in linguistics (syntax in particular) and arguably based on some assumptions that reveal a good deal about linguistics, or at least common notions of the field.
In this post I will provide background to the specific question, go over my answers to my acquaintance, and in a rhapsodic rather than deeply structured manner hint at some of the broader linguistic, scientific, and philosophical issues raised by this specific question.