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On 12 May 2001, at 18:22, Wade T.Smith wrote:
> Hi Scott Chase -
>
> >Is consensus anything more than collective opinion?
>
> Good point, in this realm of semantics.
>
> Yes, a consensus is the opinioned position of a collective.
>
> The best use of a word is a matter of its success at being understood
> by a collective.
>
> Opinions about words (and words that give rise to numerous opinions)
> do not lead to the making of statements of high comprehension.
>
> Humpty-Dumpty-ism is, granted, an extreme opinionated position. But
> the best use of a word, or of anything, is not simply a matter of
> opinion, and never has been, except in a communicative gathering of
> one, which is, of course, impossible.
>
The common definition of a word is indeed a matter of
intersubjective understanding.
>
> - Wade
>
> `When _I_ use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone,
> `it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less.'
>
> `The question is,' said Alice, `whether you CAN make words mean so
> many different things.'
>
> `The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, `which is to be master - -
> that's all.'
>
> ===============================================================
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>
>
===============================================================
This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
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