This is a paranoid way to look at the world, but take into question the statement 'Have you ever been in trouble?'
The lexical definition of the word 'trouble', according to dictionary.com, is an "unfortunate or distressing position, circumstance, or occurence; misfortune"
But this seems to be where things become interesting, because 'trouble' could be an ambiguous term, not only because it has other definitions based on how the word is used (verb with object, verb without object, noun, or idiom), but because the person asking the question could have given it their own stipulative definition.
We'll say that they've decided, stipulatively, that 'trouble' alternately means 'Massachusetts'. You would be answering their question based on previous knowledge of how people have used this expression without taking into account that 'trouble' can mean different things to different people.
I knew a girl that used to do this so that only her close friend knew what she was talking about.
My question is this:
^that girl has done it, have you?
Haha this is pretty cool. Yes i have done that. When i was in high school we used to make up words for things so that people could not understand what we were saying. It was actually quite fun, unless a person was outside our group and didnt know what we were saying. It was never anything bad about other people, just a way to entertain ourselves. This is a good question and it actually made me laugh out loud when i read it.
ReplyDeleteThis is kinda like pig latin or whatever, right? When I was in school only the girls were playing that kind of game. Not sure why guys didn't play, but I guess it seemed like a girly game. But we had a rule in high school not to talk about things that you wouldn't want a teacher or adult to hear you say. It just waited until after school. I think the girls couldn't help but to talk to each other and they needed the code.
ReplyDeleteYou still have your word verification on.
ReplyDeleteLanguage belongs to its users, not the grammarians or the dictionary. However, if one wishes to be understood by one's linguistic community, it always helps to attend to how others use words.
ReplyDeleteI've done this a lot. Not always so that other people can't understand me, but sometimes it happens from a recurring joke between friends. Sometimes words become associated with each other and take on the meaning of one another. It's not on purpose, but still very interesting!
ReplyDelete