RE: Bringing a Dictionary to a Gun Fight! Why it Matters When We Redefine Words and their Meanings
"When you feel confused, ask the person what they mean by that term. "
Yup. Some people are so arrogant and think they are so "smart" because they appeal to some piece of paper to license them to knowledge (PhD), and deny other valid definitions if we just look at the words closer to see what they mean, and how they can reflect reality in multiple ways.
Words have this power. Words can have dual meaning that sometimes oppose, I have found this in my etymological research.
For some people, if they don't like how someone uses words, to reflect an aspect of reality that they are not used to hearing the word used for, or to define it more precisely and more clearly, in one instance they say "Just because it has been used as such in the language it doesn't mean it is so," as to deny how the word reflects reality because they don't want to be corrected in their own limited definition of a word; and then in another instance where the definition can apply to something else in reality, they want to simply say that a broader use is invalid because they don't understand how the meaning can convey more than one aspect of reality.
Words are tricky that way. Sure, use a dictionary and etymology to point out he original meaning of a word as it was first intended to be used, but also look at how the word can mean more than that original meaning now, because words do change meaning according to the conventions of them being used by people.
Take care. Peace.
Language is always changing. But, when you insist that your new definition supersedes the old, even in places where the new usage could not have been intended, something different is going on.
I agree. I see much confusion about word meaning. I study language, symbols and reality myself: Occulting and Encrypting Reality through Word Magic - Language and Reality Pt.3, Symbols, Reality, Knowledge, Belief and Attachment.
My point was that yes use the etymology, as I often do. But in doing so, you can see how words have changed meaning, and how multiple levels of meaning can exist in words. I am not advocating simply redefining words at our whim to choose to alter our perception of reality for a specific agenda.
This is the point behind "newspeak" in Orwell's 1984, to obfuscate and confuse the meaning of reality and limit the degree of conception we can invoke from it, thereby limiting consciousness and keeping it under control, mind control.
Precisely. He made an astute observation that we see playing out, almost without filter at the present time.
@markrmorrisjr, @krnel,
This quote seemed so appropriate for this discussion:
'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone,
'it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.'
'The question is,' said Alice, 'whether you can make words mean so many different things.'
'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master — that's all.'
Through the Looking Glass, by Lewis Carroll