Quote:
Originally posted by Xugumad
Quote:
Originally posted by juju
Words do not have 'intrinsic' meaning. They are phonemes, and they only have the meaning that you personally ascribe to them. A word that means one thing to Maggie could mean something completely different to Dave.
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Universality of meaning results in words' intrinsic nature. You can sit there all day and claim that 'nigger' means a different thing to black rappers than it does to middle-class white suburbanites, but its core value is that of an insulting term ascribed to black people.
Re-read the bit in my last message about people attaching meaning to words, and in what context that was written; please don't quote out of context.
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I went over this again, and I don't think I quoted you out of context. I think that the above text is what this is all about. You seem to be saying that society as a whole grants meaning to words, and i'm saying that individuals give meanings to words.
Now, it's ideal that we all give the same meanings to our words. If we didn't all use the same dictionary, then there would be huge miscommunications between people. I'm saying that does happen, though.
Anyway, I agree with Dave that we'll have to agree to disagree. All we seem to be doing is reiterating our points over and over again. :)