Dictionaries - Friday, December 31, 2010

My dictionary says a robot is “a machine with human appearance or functioning like a human”.

Why do I kick-off so many articles with my dictionary?

Because it is written-down, and a definition that is written-down provides an mutually-agreed starting point for discussion.

My dictionary (1) is probably different from yours; nonetheless I am confident that any word definition I quote from mine will parallel the definition in your dictionary.

If it does not, then you have a good argument against me – we are looking at the problem from two different viewpoints, and perhaps we are not likely to see eye-to-eye from the get-go.

But if the two dictionary definitions (yours and mine) agree, then at least we are starting off on the same foot.

(1) Strictly speaking “any one of the seven dictionaries in my home”

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