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Words don't "have meaning." People mean things by them.
I'm sorry, but that's just the way things are. And to guess what they mean, you have to know what the words they use commonly mean in their own linguistic community. There's no way around that.
It's not relativism, and it's not Humpty Dumpty. It requires imagination ("what could this person have meant?") and good faith, and familiarity with the linguistic community, if it's not your own.
Words outside of a linguistic community are just squiggles on a page or grunts in a throat. They don't mean a damn thing.
Essential Zen
To begin to understand you must cut off knowing and seeing, forget gain and loss, and become purified, naked, and perfectly at ease; each and every one must investigate on his own.
Words and Meaning
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Words and Meaning
by Kristopher on Tue Apr 03, 2012 2:04 pm
- Kristopher
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Re: Words and Meaning
by Gonzo on Tue Apr 03, 2012 5:48 pm
...unless you have Urban Dictionary bookmarked...
Is that so?
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Gonzo - Site Admin
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