Semantic Distinction Quotes

The exact meaning of irony is so narrow that the word is hardly worth using; in its broad, current definition, it's a euphemism for sarcasm. 'I'm not being sarcastic; I'm being ironic.' No, you're not. You're evading the responsibility for being sarcastic.

We don't murder, we kill.... You don't murder animals, you kill them.

I do not like this word, bomb. It is not a bomb; it is a device which is exploding.

The map is not the territory (coined by Alfred Korzybski), and the name is not the thing named.

Nauseous. Nauseated. The first means "sickening to contemplate"; the second means "sick at the stomach." Do not, therefore, say "I feel nauseous," unless you are sure you have that effect on others.

In my own writing, I avoid 'female' and try to say 'woman' because I feel that the word 'female' has connotations of not just biology but also non-human mammals. The idea of 'female' to me is more appropriate for a female animal.

Nine times out of ten it is the coarse word that condemns an evil, and the refined word that excuses it.

. . . children - not kids. Kids are goats. I've always spoken of my children as children.

Here's the point to be made - there are no synonyms. There are no two words that mean exactly the same thing.

Good is a noun rather than an adjective.

It is clear enough that you are making some distinction in what you said, that there is some nicety of terminology in your words. I can't quite follow you.

The books for young people say a great deal about the selection of Friends; it is because they really have nothing to say about Friends. They mean associates and confidants merely.

And don't tell me there isn't one bit of difference between null and space, because that's exactly how much difference there is.