(March 11, 2017 at 1:45 am)Nonpareil Wrote: This really is the most bizarre discussion.
"What is the definition of this word?"
"Here it is."
"That's not the definition, though!"
"Yes, it is. You can look it up in a dictionary."
"But here are some people that don't fit the definition-"
"Then it doesn't apply."
"But I want to call them that!"
"That doesn't matter. The definition still doesn't apply."
"But in the past the definition was different!"
"That doesn't matter. The definition is what it is today."
"But it can actually be whatever anyone wants it to!"
...It's like watching an endless Abbott and Costello bit, only there's never a punchline. Or a gag. Or anything, really. Just people tilting at the dictionary hard enough to make Quixote's head spin.
It's important to note that dictionaries do not define words; they record word usage. In the States, a pavement is the bit of the street that cars use, while over here it's what Americans know as the sidewalk. If the dictionary was an authoritative diktat, we would all agree on a definition.
Similarly, grabbing someone by the fanny over here would get you crushed nuts and a place on a register faster than you can say "Donald Trump".
At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist. This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways - with relief or with despair. Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, 'Wait a second. That means there's a situation vacant.'
