From: nospam@example.net   
      
   On Wed, 7 Aug 2024, Richmond wrote:   
      
   > oldernow  writes:   
   >   
   >> On 2024-08-07, Richmond  wrote:   
   >>   
   >>> You say we revise meanings, but what actually happens   
   >>> is meanings change gradually. So over time a meaning can   
   >>> change, but that's not the same as a subgroup of people   
   >>> getting together and deciding to define a word. Even   
   >>> having defined a word its usage will remain the same,   
   >>> and its usage is what truely defines it. There are many   
   >>> examples from law I should think where the legal meaning   
   >>> of a word is different from its general usage.   
   >>   
   >> I think that's even more insidious than generally accepted,   
   >> in that individuals perform the assignment/revision of   
   >> meaning to word symbols in real time, including in the   
   >> simplest of conversation, which to me is the main source   
   >> of communication contention.   
   >   
   > I noticed recently that Richard Dawkins defined sex as male if there is   
   > a Y chromosome, although sometimes he says 'biological sex'. The word   
   > sex, as in the state of being male or female, was used in 1382 in John   
   > Wycliffe's Bible translation. Chromosomes weren't discovered until the   
   > 19th century.   
   >   
      
   Dawkins?!? I'm honored and consider myself in great company! I use that   
   definition too! =) Great minds think alike, as the saying goes!   
      
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