<html> <body> <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite> > And it'd be nice to see > an example of something that _isn't_ socially constructed-- Rocks, dinosaurs, galaxies. Lots of cool stuff, actually. -- DRR</blockquote> No, no, NO!!!  Those names for those..... things... are always already (as we are too fond of saying) a part of culture.  People who are born and raised today have a really hard time (impossible time, really) apprehending a "galaxy" without thinking a bit about Mr. Spock and Carl Sagan and warp speed.  And the folks down the block and over the river do galaxies different as well.  At least a part of what makes those galaxies "cool" is all our knowledge (and ignorance) about them.  The galaxy "in itself" is unavailable to us as an object of contemplation.   "It" is, or would be, meaningless.  The fact that we could get smacked with one doesn't make it any less socially constructed... since we must presume an "it" to which we are referring or language fails us and we are back to grunting and pointing at the sky. Cliff  </body> </html>