I see this the same way. Words do have meaning, but only
because people agree that they do.
Dear Tim,
And that's what Mark Foster meant by a 'social contract.' However, in
my experience each individual tends to use terminology in ways that
are often specific to them. So when analyzing
On 7/24/06, Tim Nolan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Hi Susan,
Words in and of themselves have no instinsic meaning; they are just
sounds.
Yes. I think the book Finnegans Wake is a good example of this.
But isn't it possible to dismiss Finnegans Wake as a special case? I
mean, most people who
Hi Susan,Words in and of themselves have no instinsic meaning; they are just sounds.Yes. I think the book Finnegans Wake is a good example of this.But those that use them intend things by those sounds, and what they intend is the meaning. I see this the same way. Words do
point. Words do have
meaning. Granted the meaning may change over time, and a word may have different meanings in different contexts, but words do convey meaning (Finnegan's Wakenotwithstanding).
Tim Nolan
Yahoo! for Good
Click here to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.
The i
Tim,
At 08:52 AM 10/5/2005, you wrote:
You're kidding, right? You don't actually believe that words mean whatever
you (or I) want them to mean? If that were true, it would make any
communication impossible.
Yes, I do. Words *have* no meaning. The meaning is in the mind of the speaker
"Mark A. Foster" [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Tim,At 08:52 AM 10/5/2005, you wrote:You're kidding, right? You don't actually believe that words mean whatever you (or I) want them to mean? If that were true, it would make any communication impossible.Yes, I do. Words *have*
