Right, now. 'The Archers' has finished, back to more trivial matters.
1. From the Oxford English Dictionary definition of 'penumbra', giving an example of its metaphorical use:
Quote:
2.2 fig. A partial shade or shadow (in various metaphorical applications), esp. regarded as bordering upon a fuller or darker one.
[...] 1862 Masson in Macm. Mag. Aug. 319 Those who can surround a definite designation with the due penumbra.
2. 'Meaning' is a highly ambiguous term. Many thousand books have been written about it. I haven't read more than about two of them, and that was a long time ago. All I can say is that there is a difference between the denotation of a word and its connotation.
3. I've looked at the Stephen Fry thing, 'Ghis'. He seems to be attacking people who think one word or grammatical construction is more correct than another. I am not one of those.
4. Thanks for drawing my attention to 'WTF', Dr Dunlop I had to google it, but now I know what it means (its connotation as well as its denotation, I hope), I shall look out for opportunities to use it.
5. If I understand 'Thisgirl' correctly, s/he is saying that our choice of language is a purely personal matter, and has no social, cultural, aesthetic or ethical implications. I would challenge that, but I'm not sure that I would choose 'poo' as the most illuminating example with which to support my argument.
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