- Sep 12, 2008
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http://www.usmessageboard.com/4777504-post169.htmllink to the other thread and a particular discussion
The Oxford English dictionary runs many many volumes of teeny tiny type. The number of words in english exceeds that of any other language by a factor of 10 or more.
Still, in English, we have many words that have many meanings. (of course, meanings tend to drift as time goes by as well)
One particular annoying feature you see people do on both sides is play semantic games with the different meanings of a plain english word and argue on the other definition.
It is not enough that different people have different ideas of what constitutes common words. That is just human nature. But to wander off on totally different concepts is not witty, erudite or fun. It is instead duplicitous, ignorant and disrespectuful to all parties in a discussion
The Oxford English dictionary runs many many volumes of teeny tiny type. The number of words in english exceeds that of any other language by a factor of 10 or more.
Still, in English, we have many words that have many meanings. (of course, meanings tend to drift as time goes by as well)
One particular annoying feature you see people do on both sides is play semantic games with the different meanings of a plain english word and argue on the other definition.
It is not enough that different people have different ideas of what constitutes common words. That is just human nature. But to wander off on totally different concepts is not witty, erudite or fun. It is instead duplicitous, ignorant and disrespectuful to all parties in a discussion
