On 15/11/2012 20:15, James Stroud wrote:
On Nov 15, 2012, at 10:59 AM, Tim Gruene wrote:
I have heard this discussion before and reminds me of people claiming
strawberries were nuts - which botanically may be correct, but would
still not make me complain about strawberries in a fruit cake I
ordered at a restaurant.
My Pengiun English Dictionary states (amongst other explanations)
freeze: "to make extremely cold",
Tim's comment strikes at the heart of the problem.
I think the scientific community should decide a few points.
1. What is the approved language and dialect for science?
2. Within this dialect, what should be the authoritative dictionary?
3. Will we allow use of definitions that are not the primary definition
(second, third, fourth).
4. Will we allow the use of homonyms?
5. If not, which homonyms should prevail?
These are all very important questions if we completely disregard context in
writing.
James
Hear hear! I never have the faintest idea what somebody means when they
say "I froze my crystals". They may as well be speaking Greek.
