BREAKING: MAN CHANGES GLASS OF WATER INTO AN OAK TREE!

[Adios]

Or they could just use a dictionary.  People who are too stupid to learn the definitions of the words they repeat deserve everything they get, good and hard.  Fact is, it's the demagogues that misuse these words in the same manner - basically speaking - as the OP that have caused half of these problems.  Deciding that words don't actually mean anything furthers their cause.

so no effort should be made to point out to people the ways that they are being manipulated? seems to play right into the evil Illuminati scheme, no?


I hope a skepticism of words is in people's minds as they wrestle with whether Julian Assange is a journalist or terrorist.

I don't know about that, Cram. Words have specific meanings, and the words "terrorist" and "journalist" are no different. People shouldn't be wrestling with the meaning of the words, but the implications of Assange's actions, and whether they qualify as one or the other.

Words have become so twisted and diluted that their original conceptual meanings are lost so often.

But even colloquialisms mean something, and if that meaning is understood by the listener then there shouldn't be a debate over the meaning of the word. A vivid example would be the Greek conception of χάος, and the Roman conception of Chaos. χάος was void. Empty void. Chaos was a jumbled mass of matter with everything out of place, despite being a direct borrowing of the Greek word. Even so, if you would say chaos to a Roman, they would understand it as their conception, and not quibble about what the Greeks thought, even if they were educated enough to know. Cross-cultural communication may suffer, but internal communication does not. Unless someone decides to be an ass and says "But, Ovid, the Greeks thought...."

I lost my point somewhere, but I think I was trying to say that we shouldn't further complicate it by trying to fuck with the definitions of words we already understand.

IF. Such a horrible word.

[Jasper]

"I helped my uncle Jack off a horse."

Communication is challenging.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Many times I have wished we still communicated with cave drawings. They were easier to understand.

Nonsense.  The ability to communicate complex ideas is language's greatest accomplishment.  Sometimes, you may have to use more words than you would like to, but it is not language's fault.  To be more specific, language does not contain the (majority) of the flaw, the users of language inject the flaw.

This.

Give man a medium, and he can flood it with stupidity.

[Adios]

Many times I have wished we still communicated with cave drawings. They were easier to understand.

Nonsense.  The ability to communicate complex ideas is language's greatest accomplishment.  Sometimes, you may have to use more words than you would like to, but it is not language's fault.  To be more specific, language does not contain the (majority) of the flaw, the users of language inject the flaw.

I tried to poke a hole in this, but it's stick-proof.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

"I helped my uncle Jack off a horse."

Communication is challenging.

Only if you can't write a complete sentence.  The above states that you and your uncle gave a horse a hand job.

"I helped my uncle Jack down off a horse." says that you assisted your uncle Jack descend from the back of a horse.

[Adios]

"I helped my uncle Jack off a horse."

Communication is challenging.

In Kentucky this is a perfectly acceptable statement.

[Phox]

Or they could just use a dictionary.  People who are too stupid to learn the definitions of the words they repeat deserve everything they get, good and hard.  Fact is, it's the demagogues that misuse these words in the same manner - basically speaking - as the OP that have caused half of these problems.  Deciding that words don't actually mean anything furthers their cause.

so no effort should be made to point out to people the ways that they are being manipulated? seems to play right into the evil Illuminati scheme, no?


I hope a skepticism of words is in people's minds as they wrestle with whether Julian Assange is a journalist or terrorist.

I don't know about that, Cram. Words have specific meanings, and the words "terrorist" and "journalist" are no different. People shouldn't be wrestling with the meaning of the words, but the implications of Assange's actions, and whether they qualify as one or the other.

Words have become so twisted and diluted that their original conceptual meanings are lost so often.

But even colloquialisms mean something, and if that meaning is understood by the listener then there shouldn't be a debate over the meaning of the word. A vivid example would be the Greek conception of χάος, and the Roman conception of Chaos. χάος was void. Empty void. Chaos was a jumbled mass of matter with everything out of place, despite being a direct borrowing of the Greek word. Even so, if you would say chaos to a Roman, they would understand it as their conception, and not quibble about what the Greeks thought, even if they were educated enough to know. Cross-cultural communication may suffer, but internal communication does not. Unless someone decides to be an ass and says "But, Ovid, the Greeks thought...."

I lost my point somewhere, but I think I was trying to say that we shouldn't further complicate it by trying to fuck with the definitions of words we already understand.

IF. Such a horrible word.

Yes. It is. And I chose it because of what it implies.

[Jasper]

Blatant example, but it generalizes well.  If semantics were simple, people wouldn't fuck it up so much.

[BabylonHoruv]

Hooray for René 

I find it absurd how much our brain just filters out as ''unimportant''.
As young infants we never did this. A conversation in this room was just as important as he dishwasher in the next. Sure before around 18-24 months we didn't have a measurable sense of self but our senses requiring outside input were superhuman. Yet if we experienced that sort of unfiltered input in adult life it'd fuck us up. Royally. It's a shame really. I'd love to experience that unfiltered input whist being self aware even if just for a moment. 

Who is by brain to make all these decisions as to what i am aware of at any one time? 

LSD can, sometimes, provide this experience.

[Jasper]

"I helped my uncle Jack off a horse."

Communication is challenging.

In Kentucky this is a perfectly acceptable statement.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Hooray for René 

I find it absurd how much our brain just filters out as ''unimportant''.
As young infants we never did this. A conversation in this room was just as important as he dishwasher in the next. Sure before around 18-24 months we didn't have a measurable sense of self but our senses requiring outside input were superhuman. Yet if we experienced that sort of unfiltered input in adult life it'd fuck us up. Royally. It's a shame really. I'd love to experience that unfiltered input whist being self aware even if just for a moment. 

Who is by brain to make all these decisions as to what i am aware of at any one time? 

LSD can, sometimes, provide this experience.

LSD always gives you that experience, as I already posted.

It also makes you a complete fucking moron for 8 hours.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Blatant example, but it generalizes well.  If semantics were simple, people wouldn't fuck it up so much.

It's only excuseable in spoken English ("Shoot John" vs "Shoot, John").

And yes, they'd fuck it up.

[LMNO]

Blatant example, but it generalizes well.  If semantics were simple, people wouldn't fuck it up so much.

Laziness has nothing to do with semantics.  "I helped my uncle Jack off a horse" is gramatically incorrect; it is missing the preposition "of".  Don't blame semantics for that.


Not to mention, the fact that "Jack" is capitalized indicates a proper noun, not a verb. 

[Adios]

"I helped my uncle Jack off a horse."

Communication is challenging.

In Kentucky this is a perfectly acceptable statement.

A perfect example. You chose to see this as a funny and it was intended to be serious. Many stud owners will not risk damaging their studs and use this method to produce the sperm.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

JESUS FUCKING CHRIST.