Quote:
Originally Posted by Stitchawl
Or the clerk that wrote that particular 'definition' did so in a Friday afternoon, and simply translated it.
I notice that you still haven't answered my question. Have YOU ever heard this word used before this thread? "Defend you limitations, and sure enough, you own them." You can stick with the book, and I'll stick with real world usage. No harm, no foul.
I used the expression 'the map is not the terrain' previously. To people who use maps, they are just marks on a piece of paper, not the ground upon which they actually walk. A guide line until they actually walk on it, they only have a vague idea of what is there. A dictionary, too, is just marks on a piece of paper, not the 'ground' upon which people walk. The map doesn't show if the footing is rocky or smooth, or if the going is easy or hard. It takes real world usage, actually walking over the terrain, to know the facts. The map doesn't always show them. You can continue to reject this if you wish, and just cling to the map. And perhaps one day you too will say 'the fertilizer is sub rosa.'
Stitchawl
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No, I'd never heard the word. Now, thanks to the author of Harry's book and the dictionary, I know what it means. Thanks to this thread, I'm also now aware of a technical use of a form of the word in biology.
As for the map and the terrain, all it may mean is that you think that your familiarity with your little plot of ground makes your assumptions about places you've never even heard of more accurate than the accounts of travelers from those parts.