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How does this make any sense? You could have 100 synonyms with the same "definition" but 100 different shades of meaning, implied degree of strength, or connot
by WhitneyLand 8y ago
How does this make any sense?
You could have 100 synonyms with the same "definition" but 100 different shades of meaning, implied degree of strength, or connotations.
You don't necessarily simplify anything by making people add additional words get across those subtleties.
Of course of some are useless equivalents, but many aren't.
- Swizec 8y ago> Of course of some are useless equivalents, but many aren't. No such thing as a synonym. On the face of it yes many words share meanings. But a mutt is not the same as a dog despite what thesaurus.com says
- panarky 8y agoThose shades of meaning can be described with other words. What is the minimum number of words needed to define everything else?
- magneticnorth 8y agoOh, you absolutely wouldn't simplify anything by doing this - ideas that used to be encompassed by a single word would have paragraph-long descriptions. It's just a thought experiment about how much you could optimize one dimension (number of words) if you didn't care at all about optimization anywhere else in language.
- bonoboTP 8y agoMaybe some of the dictionary entries would have to be short stories or novels or poems.
- pbhjpbhj 8y ago>some are useless equivalents// Not all synonyms amount to useless equivalents. Occasionally it's useful to use a different word simply because one can; sometimes the facilitous utility of alternate mots juste serves its own purpose.