Words

From Aunt Friendly's Picture Book.

Containing Thirty-six Pages in Colour by Kronheim

by Anonymous

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"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone. "It means just what I choose it to mean - neither more or 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."

//////777777777777777777Lewis Carroll

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It never cease to astonish me that we can communicate with each other. Even if we speak the same language words don't always mean the same things to everybody. Only within a family or a very tight group of people do we speak exactly the same language. Young people today use words differently than I do — and it has always been so.
A couple of days ago I discussed this with some of my friends — we were quite surprised when we realized how differently we looked upon words and their meanings. We all liked and disliked different words or expressions.
There are two words that I avoid: hate and proud. Hate because it is a very strong word and I try hard not to hate anything or anybody — I do dislike quite a few things though.....
I shiver when I hear the word proud — to me it is a vainglorious, patronizing and very worldly word. I can be grateful, thankful, happy over or about something — but never proud.

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If it is true that words have meanings, why don't

we throw away words and keep just the meanings?

Ludwig Wittgenstein