Semantic Drift: "meaninglessness," "pointlessness"

David Sutcliffe david.sutcliffe at UPF.EDU
Sun Oct 8 09:37:32 UTC 2006


Maybe it's not a quibble to point out that there is a semantic overlap here in the case of absurd v. pointless.

If war creates unnecessay suffering and ultimately we all lose more than we gain, or if a given war represents the gain of a few and the loss of many, then on that level war can be said to be pointless or "senseless" - that is senseless or pointless from the higher or universal point of view.

David

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



More information about the Ads-l mailing list