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Question: hey jf- how do you feel about words (english language) that can have multiple "meanings"? 2,3,4 or moar! meanings...(is this not confusing,even for the "educated" ?) + have a very creative/ blessed year
Asked by 2024 (109.158.137.x) on January 4 2024, 4:12pm
Reply on January 4 2024, 10:46pm:

Are there any languages where words have exactly one meaning?

Comments:

Posted by 2024 (109.158.137.x) on January 5 2024, 10:19am:
idk...but it IS confusing!! (like: when we hear the term asylum seekers..are they are looking for mental hospitals,or a place of refuge?) ((knowing the song "the lunatics have taken over the asylum" ohh for sure!)) LOL
Posted by Justin on January 5 2024, 12:04pm:
that example is more or less the same meaning "a place of relative safety" or whatnot. How about "literally" which now means both "not figuratively" and "figuratively"? hah
Posted by Justin on January 5 2024, 12:05pm:
Or "bow" and "bow" and "bow" which can be a tied piece of ribbon, the front of a ship, or an motion done by a human.
Posted by Justin on January 5 2024, 12:06pm:
(though in the last case, the first version is pronounced differently so...)
Posted by 2024 (109.158.137.x) on January 5 2024, 7:38pm:
lol= confused ✔ case considered closed.....thanx! = (we write our own language/words and definitions these days!)
Posted by User (92.38.148.x) on January 5 2024, 8:56pm:
it's not confusing because there's usually context, and if the familiar meaning doesn't fit it chances are the word means something else
Posted by 2024 (109.158.137.x) on January 6 2024, 4:41pm:
@user - 1 meaning or definition is enough..is it not? " context" is not a substitute for defining multiple meanings... a tree is a tree.. a spade a spade...if there are to be more than 1 meaning for any word, then FIND a new description to keep describing simple... simples? LOL we are still able to invent new words,new descriptions and NOT be bound or limited to what is already in place?
Posted by User (107.181.177.x) on January 7 2024, 12:51pm:
There must be reason why people tend to ascribe different meanings to the same lexeme, because the phenomenon isn't unique to any particular language. For example because there's a finite number of lexemes that a human being is able to keep in their memory
Posted by 2024 (109.158.137.x) on January 7 2024, 10:45pm:
hmmm.. an infinite mind is not bound to limited concepts ! human expression CAN be infinite IF allowed to be so? no? 🧪
Posted by User (185.239.173.x) on January 8 2024, 3:10pm:
That's provided the mind is infinite, but is it? I'm not sure. And is infinity of expression tantamount to infinity of memory?
Posted by 2024 (31.54.122.x) on January 9 2024, 2:54pm:
according to "qauntum theorists" every electron can be everywhere & nowhere @ the same "time"..as time is a human construct..1 soon realizes that each cell of their body is quantum/energy...which appears to be "everywhere & nowhere" all at any measurable/observable moment..IF! each cell is this (we have trillions per body) 1 can then assume infinite states of mind? yes?

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