ah, yes as i mentioned 'that which we call a rose ...'. even that had hidden meaning. shakespeare's rival theatre in london was 'the rose', and had notoriously stinky sanitary facilities...
in order to have meaning, two people need to be in on the secret. words are for communicating, so we need at least two people to agree on the definition. preferably more. i could call a gladius a quibble, but no one else would know what i meant, the sound of one hand clapping, i add the second hand by calling it a 'short sword' for those who never heard of the roman gladii. saves ambiguity. with most people, i could call it a 'long knife' with about the same meaning, but 'short sword' carries more meaning to more knowledgeable people as well as those less interested than we are.
as a westerner, i also like to think of them as knives, daggers, short swords, swords etc. in addition to their name from their locale of origin. it also has more meaning to those outside the fraternity when trying to convey the meaning to them.
and so the argument continues, we are all right, and simultaneously all wrong.
the wurme eating it's own tail.
