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by mr_toad 732 days ago
If someone sticks a cushion on a beer crate and sits on it, is it a chair? Opinions differ.
2 comments

When this question arises, I always think of Korzibsky in my foggy recollection of him. Linguistics do program us, more than, I think, we admit. Unfortunately, individuals have limited authority in how language is applied, but in theory, a language could be constructed to program us in strictly beneficial ways. One aspect of such a hypothetical language might be the alteration of nouns to verbs, ie describing things as functions rather than things. Many are critical of this concept, but it seems to me of some potential. Language does affect perception and while it may not do so entirely, its effect is formidable.

Beercrashion: the tendency of some specific wooden structures to serve a peripheral function to some creatures as a comfortable buffer between them and the surface beneath them often called ground.

Do opinions differ whether that particular beer crate is real? Of whether the name is appropriate?