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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lane3 who wrote (34361)	10/19/2001 3:20:14 PM
From: Neocon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

How about this: since I think that the core of morality is the just ordering of society and the inculcation of those traits that enhance the ability of society to balance cooperation and competition, and lead to improvement, I think it is necessary for society to be a liberal democracy and basically capitalist in order to create a more perfectly moral culture. I think that democratic capitalism is not only superior to any other social arrangements, but that is the only matrix out of which the right moral sensibility can be inculcated on a widespread basis.

To: Lane3 who wrote (34361)	10/19/2001 3:25:10 PM
From: cosmicforce	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

My opinion is that, if it's in the dictionary, it's fair game. I'm certainly not anal about it. Words are fun. They are our primary window to others and it is only through language that we can share our thoughts with others. Nuance is how we attain precision. I had an argument about a word (I don't even remember what it was) with a roommate in the Navy. He said it meant something it didn't. I said, "Let's go look it up." He said, "I don't care what the dictionary says, I know what it means." Needless to say, I considered this a fairly large character defect in an otherwise intelligent person. If I start to refer to robins as "sparrows", the mall as a "gas station" or a pizza as "sushi", how the hell will I ever be able to get my ideas out of my head and into yours? Dictionaries have their limitations, but they represent the scaffolding upon which we build our language. Now all we need are better dictionaries. Electronic ones that are phonetic would be good. Thesauri (sorry Charley!) are good, and the only thing I can think of that is truly absent is a digest of idioms. I'm always open for links, BTW. So, post away! I know a few years back that there was a printed version of a phonetic dictionary. There are slang dictionaries. But as far as I know, the only thing that is close to an idiomatic dictionary is a thesaurus.