{"id":963,"date":"2010-12-19T09:48:43","date_gmt":"2010-12-19T14:48:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/benhauck.com\/offthemap\/?p=963"},"modified":"2010-12-19T09:51:49","modified_gmt":"2010-12-19T14:51:49","slug":"stable-unstable-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/benhauck.com\/offthemap\/2010\/12\/19\/stable-unstable-words\/","title":{"rendered":"Stable & Unstable Words"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are words whose rock-solid meanings we rely on as a culture.\u00a0 The use of these words can be correct or incorrect, or maybe proper or improper.\u00a0 Their meanings, when it comes down to it, aren’t a matter of interpretation–they are largely set and\u00a0incontrovertible.\u00a0 I call these words “stable words<\/em>.”<\/p>\n

What are examples of stable words?<\/p>\n

“All” is a stable word.<\/p>\n

It means “every.”\u00a0 It means “total.”\u00a0\u00a0“All” is a completely consuming word that stands for each and every item in a collection.\u00a0 “All of the apples in the cart.”\u00a0 “All of my classmates.”\u00a0 “All of the universe.”<\/p>\n

The meaning of “all” is not a matter of controversy–its meaning is agreed upon without argument.\u00a0 “All” does not mean “most.”\u00a0 “All” does not mean “a few.”\u00a0 “I’ve done all of my homework” does not mean “I’ve done most of my homework.”\u00a0 There is a difference between “all” and “most” because the meaning of “all” is set.\u00a0 As is the meaning of “most.”\u00a0 “Most” is also a stable word.\u00a0 Its meaning is “more than 50%.”\u00a0 It’s meaning is “not all, but relatively close to all.”<\/p>\n

To say “I’ve done all of my homework” when you’ve only done most of your homework would be using the word “all” incorrectly<\/em> or improperly<\/em>.\u00a0 Certainly we can and do say “all” when we truly mean “most,” but those are the kinds of uses of “all” that general semantics combats.\u00a0 General semantics, arguably, tries to get people to speak correctly or properly with respect to stable words.<\/p>\n

So what is an unstable word<\/em>?\u00a0 An unstable word’s meaning is<\/em> a matter of interpretation.\u00a0 Its meaning isn’t totally set.\u00a0 It may be controversial.\u00a0 It may not have a correct or proper use.<\/p>\n

What are examples of unstable words?<\/p>\n

“Liberty.”\u00a0 Or “blue.”\u00a0 Both of these are matters of interpretation.\u00a0 Their meanings are arguable.\u00a0 What’s liberty to you may not be liberty to me.\u00a0 What’s blue to you may not be blue to me.\u00a0 You have abundant poetic license to use these words.\u00a0 Iran can use liberty, and so can the U.S.A.\u00a0 The sky may be blue to you, but so may be the\u00a0pool to you, when it is more “green” to me.<\/p>\n

The stability of these words’ meanings has a consequence.\u00a0 Stable words create stable arguments; unstable words create unstable arguments.<\/em>\u00a0 That is, stable words create arguments that can be correct or incorrect, proper\u00a0or improper; unstable words create arguments that are matters of interpretation<\/em>.\u00a0 Until an unstable argument gets reformulated into a stable argument, there is no possibility for being correct or proper; being correct or proper will continually slip through fingers and cracks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are words whose rock-solid meanings we rely on as a culture.\u00a0 The use of these words can be correct or incorrect, or maybe proper or improper.\u00a0 Their meanings, when it comes down to it, aren’t a matter of interpretation–they are largely set and\u00a0incontrovertible.\u00a0 I call these words “stable words.” What are examples of stable […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[232,233,231,230,234,186,10,235,228,229],"class_list":["post-963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-semantics","tag-absolutism","tag-allness","tag-argument","tag-controvery","tag-correctness","tag-interpretation","tag-meaning","tag-propriety","tag-stable-words","tag-unstable-words"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/benhauck.com\/offthemap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/benhauck.com\/offthemap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/benhauck.com\/offthemap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benhauck.com\/offthemap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benhauck.com\/offthemap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=963"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/benhauck.com\/offthemap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/963\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":968,"href":"https:\/\/benhauck.com\/offthemap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/963\/revisions\/968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/benhauck.com\/offthemap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benhauck.com\/offthemap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benhauck.com\/offthemap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}