That’s not the dictionary definition of ‘Insanity’… but maybe it should be.”Ī: Yeah, exactly. Hold on! Are you saying that the definition of the word quote insanity unquote is literally…,” what do you think they’ll say?ī: Hmm. Suppose that after someone says “The definition of insanity is…,” you simply say to that person, “Woah. That way, speakers who say this kind of thing aren’t committing some kind of super-common use-mention fallacy.Ī: I doubt it. When people write or say the definition of X, where X is any word, maybe we should treat it as having an implied quotation mark around X. Anyway, this phrase doesn’t show up on lists of known idioms.ī: Okay… maybe it’s a shorthand. With a normal idiom, like “he kicked the bucket,” non-native speakers get stumped. People use this idiom to talk about prime examples of things, especially when they think they’re being clever.Ī: That’s a strange idiom. Okay, the straightforward thing to say here is that “The definition of X” is an idiom, where the word “definition” isn’t being used literally. For example, “the definition of integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is watching,” is another popular one.ī: People who say stuff like that are just being lazy asses.Ī: Plenty of lazy asses rely on dictionaries.ī: True. It’s not uncommon in writing to use the word “definition” without attaching quotation marks around the thing being defined. Then it just looks like the definition of “insanity” and the example given after the definition contradict each other.Ī: Plenty of idiots rely on dictionaries.Ī: And anyway, no, not only to an idiot. The definition of insanity is doing the same over and over and expecting different results.Ī: Yuck. The state of being seriously mentally ill madness: Well, anyway, we could insert this adage into the definition of the word “insanity”, but it would be better placed in the example than in the definitional content. Surely, a dictionary of all books should respect that?Ī: Self-help blogs and nonfiction business books constitute 93.4% of all written English, as of 2016.ī: God help us. Recent research on the master corpus by our team of linguists reveals that the adage in question is among the most frequently used sentences containing the word “insanity.” It’s a popular sentence these days, especially in the self-help blogs and nonfiction business literature. As the people in charge, I propose we remedy this.ī: Agree with what? That people often utter this adage? Or agree with the content of the adage?ī: I agree in spirit, but I do not agree with it, literally speaking.ī: Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is often an example of insane behavior, but it’s not the definition of the word “insanity.” The adage is a misuse of the word “definition.”Ī: Hmmm, that’s a strange response. Unfortunately, our prestigious dictionary does not represent this common definition. A: It’s often said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |