Um... "every" was qualified by the modifier "almost". And the
wrangling IS endless if we define an end to wrangling as the
existence of a formal agreement as to meaning among the professional
linguistic, logical and philosophical communities. There's a virtual
guarantee that this will be achieved for almost no sentences in any
natural languages. (01)
Sorry, couldn't resist. :-) (02)
K (03)
At 5:21 PM -0600 2/20/07, Pat Hayes wrote:
> >Almost every word in every sentence in every natural language
>>can get professional linguists, logicians, and philosophers
>>bogged down in endless wrangling over what it means.
>
>Well, it depends on what you mean by "endless" exactly. If this
>really means infinite in the strict sense, then nothing involving
>human beings is really endless, since evolution will eliminate humans
>before the end of the physical universe. And that word "every" is
>notoriously tricky to get right, as we all know.
>
>Pat
>
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