I recently came across the phrase, "she is the world to me." And this struck me as having two distinct but opposite meanings. First, this could mean that this particular female is very important to the point of taking on the value of the entire world, in a word, invaluable.
Or second, this could mean that this particular female is "the world" meaning "all that is contrary to godliness". In other words, she is the thing that draws one away from all that is good and right.
I'm not sure what to do with this observation, other than to point out the realization that words can take on various meanings and those meanings are typically defined by the one using them.
We need to be careful in this.
Monday, November 16, 2015
The meaning in the words
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A year or two ago I told a female friend of mine that she was "adorable".
ReplyDeleteShe would take it to mean that I adored her, not that I merely assessed her as capable of being adored. Along roughly similar lines, my brother was pulled over by the police and asked if he had any outstanding warrants. His ambiguous reply "Well, I shouldn't." was accepted as meaning he was sure he didn't, as opposed to a general belief that he ought not have warrants out for him.
Wordplay can be amusing and entertaining. I must remember to include literacy among the things for which I am grateful.