From: "Ken Hanly" <khanly at mb.sympatico.ca>
> Sorry !Carrol off list suggested that it was Humpty Dumpty who
thought he
> could make words mean what he liked. Alice is on the other side!
From
> Through the Looking Glass
>
> Cheers, Ken Hanly
>
> "There's glory for you!"
> "I don't know what you mean by 'glory,' " Alice said.
> Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. "Of course you don't-till I
tell
> you. I meant 'there's a nice knock-down argument for you!' "
> "But 'glory' doesn't mean 'a nice knock-down argument,' " Alice
objected.
> "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."
===========
Golly, how subversive teaching kids that language is politics.
Damned nominalists.
Ian