[Healeys] Semantic Battles over Silly Things

[Greg Lemon]

Language is simply a convention ( see definition #5 at 
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/convention ), the letters or sounds 
we put together work for communication if we agree on what they mean.  I 
always get a kick out of people who say "what it technically means", or "the 
proper usage".  If the sender and the recipient agree on the meaning we have 
effective communication, things mean what the masses agree on what they 
mean.

If I walk into the auto parts store, any auto parts store in the USA, and I 
ask for "anti-freeze" they will point me to the various gallon containers of 
stuff, perhaps ready to use (50/50 with water) or full strength, that 
includes chemicals which help keep the liquid you use in your cooling system 
from freezing, but also from boiling, and it will also have some 
anti-corrosive and lubrication additives, and in fact that is what I and 
most of you (from my part of the world anyway) will expect to get, and if 
you just got something that kept the stuff in your cooling system from 
freezing and no lubricant and your water pump failed you would be very 
unhappy, and if the auto parts guy came back with "well you just said you 
wanted "anti-freeze" so that's all you got", you probably wouldn't feel that 
much better about the whole thing.  So from a practical, and, in my opinion, 
actual standpoint the above described broad definition is what "anti-freeze" 
means here in the states.

I can't speak to the other parts of the world, but I suspect some of the 
terminology might be different, and I also suspect that that is how this 
whole thread got started.

Greg Lemon