Your response made me think of a fundamental bugbear I have with English, and maybe other languages: the word 'is' has a tendency to imply exclusivity unless co

Your response made me think of a fundamental bugbear I have with English, and maybe other languages: the word 'is' has a tendency to imply exclusivity unless coddled by further explanation. If someone says something is a tool, that doesn't technically imply there is nothing else it 'is'. But in colloquial use, that's sometimes the intent of the author and sometimes not.