"Yay long"

Laurence Horn laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
Sun Sep 29 18:22:36 UTC 2013


On Sep 29, 2013, at 2:05 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:

> At 9/29/2013 12:45 AM, ADSGarson O'Toole wrote:
>> As Humpty-Dumpty said in
>> "Through the Looking Glass, "When I use a word, it means just what I
>> choose it to mean—neither more nor less."
>
> "That is, I mean exactly how far my hands are apart."
>
> And, therefore, no-one ever says "yay/yea" about
> area, volume, or mass.  Or do they?
>
I don't see why not, as long as the gesture accompanying it is reasonably clear.  Areas can be so signalled, although limited by the size of one's arms.

LH

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