From: nospam@buzz.off   
      
   On Thu, 20 Mar 2025 02:43:54 -0400, the following appeared   
   in talk.origins, posted by jillery <69jpil69@gmail.com>:   
      
   >On Wed, 19 Mar 2025 16:38:00 -0700, Bob Casanova    
   >wrote:   
   >   
   >>If the literal meaning of "literal" is irrelevant, the   
   >>phrase has no meaning and the accepted definition of the   
   >>word itself might as well be "a word means whatever I want   
   >>it to mean, no more, no less" a la Humpty Dumpty. It's   
   >>always been my understanding that agreement regarding   
   >>meaning is important for communication, but perhaps I was   
   >>mistaken.   
   >   
   >   
   >As this very topic shows, different people use "literal" to mean very   
   >different things, which is the case with almost all words.  That other   
   >people accept and use different meanings than you do doesn't make   
   >their meanings incorrect or inconsistent, or your meaning the only   
   >correct one.  I know you know this.   
   >   
   Of course. But if literally (sorry...) *any* meaning applies   
   and is equally valid, all meaning is lost. I tend to go with   
   the current dictionary definition as "correct", while   
   acknowledging that it changes over time, and that others may   
   use the word differently (the example I noted were   
   "literally Hitler" and "I literally died", both of which are   
   false usage according to the OED definition). I simply don't   
   accept a definition by which "literal" and "figurative" are   
   synonymous.   
   >   
   >More to the point, that isn't even my point, which you continue to   
   >conveniently ignore, as usual.  WRT the original context, and once   
   >again, my point remains: the meaning of "literal", whatever it may be,   
   >doesn't sensibly apply to any interpretations of Genesis texts, any   
   >more than does the meaning of "orange".   
   >   
   I didn't "conveniently ignore" it; it simply had no bearing   
   on the point I was trying to convey.   
      
   And "as usual" was uncalled for, since I don't ignore points   
   which are relevant to my comments.   
   >   
   --   
      
   Bob C.   
      
   "The most exciting phrase to hear in science,   
    the one that heralds new discoveries, is not   
    'Eureka!' but 'That's funny...'"   
      
   - Isaac Asimov   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)