[ADS-L] Re: † † † Re: [ADS-L] lexical query

RonButters at AOL.COM RonButters at AOL.COM
Mon Sep 3 18:01:33 UTC 2007


I onder if the problem with people misunderstanding the question isn't that 
the likelihood of an answer isn't nil. What word is there in English that 
simultaneously means X and Y? DOG doesn't simultaneously mean, e.g., 'collie' and 
'hound', though it "allows" them both. it doesn't "require" it.

Or have I just had some kind of mental block here along with everyone else 
who has responded to theis weird question)? At any rate, an example of a word 
that DOES fit the bill would be very helpful here.

In a message dated 9/3/07 1:28:42 PM, zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU writes:


> On Sep 3, 2007, at 7:42 AM, Ron Butters wrote:
> 
> > Well, once again, why doesn't "luck" fit the bill? If I ask, "What
> > kind of
> > luck did you have at the slot machines last night?" am I not using
> > "luck" in a
> > way that allows for both 'blessing' and curse'?
> 
> allows, but doesn't require.  some instances of luck are blessings
> (good luck), some are curses (bad luck), and a few might be both,
> though most are either one or the other.  so this is an example of a
> word referring to something that can be either a blessing OR a curse,
> not of a word referring to something that is at once both a blessing
> AND a curse.
> 
> larry horn: can you explain why i keep getting suggestions using OR,
> when i asked about AND?
> 
> arnold
> 




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