The problem with words -- you will either think this obvious, or troubling, I suspect -- the problem with words is that they have no intrinsic meaning.
We can bluster and point to all the dictionaries we like, but at the end of the day a word means what the person hearing it thinks it means.
They are, at the very best, a blunt instrument.
=> More informations about this toot | More toots from fishidwardrobe@social.tchncs.de
An example: if, here in the UK, I say "turnip" -- then almost all of us think of a vegetable.
Just, not the same one.
Most of the folks in the south of England would say to the folks in Scotland, "no, that's a Swede, not a Turnip". And inbetween those two places, all bets are off.
This is just a very concrete (unless baked or boiled thoroughly!) example of something that is true, more or less, for every single word.
=> More informations about this toot | More toots from fishidwardrobe@social.tchncs.de
text/geminiThis content has been proxied by September (3851b).