There is a difference between “playing with words” and “just playing with words”. If something is said to be “just”/only “playing with words”, this suggests tha

There is a difference between “playing with words” and “just playing with words”. If something is said to be “just”/only “playing with words”, this suggests that there is “no meat to it”, that it doesn’t actually describe something coherent and actionable. Things can, of course, include both real and actionable content, and also wordplay.