:Clinton, it's all a matter of what the definition of the word is is. Even real people can play this game!
Best to all this long weekend here in the U.S.,
Bob Keller

: Just came across two of my favorite passages, re the meaning of
: words. This comes up from time to time, when we discuss the
: meaning of "Mint" or "New Old Stock"

: The first passage is from Through the Looking Glass, by Lewis
: Carroll. "When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said,
: in a rather 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."

: Alice was too much puzzled to say anything; so after a minute
: Humpty Dumpty began again. 'They've a temper, some of them —
: particularly verbs: they're the proudest — adjectives you can
: do anything with, but not verbs — however, I can manage the
: whole lot of them! Impenetrability! That's what I say!'

: 'Would you tell me please,' said Alice, 'what that means?'

: 'Now you talk like a reasonable child,' said Humpty Dumpty, looking
: very much pleased. 'I meant by "impenetrability" that
: we've had enough of that subject, and it would be just as well
: if you'd mention what you mean to do next, as I suppose you
: don't mean to stop here all the rest of your life.'

: "That's a great deal to make one word mean," Alice said
: in a thoughtful tone.

: "When I make a word do a lot of work like that," said
: Humpty Dumpty, "I always pay it extra."

: "Oh!" said Alice. She was too much puzzled to make any
: other remark.

: Then there is this, from Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.:
: A word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged; it is the
: skin of a living thought and may vary greatly in color and
: content according to the circumstances and time in which it is
: used.

: Any other favorite passages out there, addressing the meaning of
: words?

: Jeff