Hi Karl,
Three things: (1) With regard to the idionsyncratic way in which you are using terms like "form,"function," "meaning," etc., Ruth has already very eloquently explained the problem here in her latest post (Thank you, Ruth). You are actually using the terms "form" and "function" in almost the exact opposite way in which they are used in either linguistics or just in general conversation and writing. (2) With regard to the "strike" in baseball example, you have several problems. First, the use of "strike" in the sense of miss, is used outside of baseball as well. People "strike out" in love, in dating, in making sales calls, in attempts at making persuasive arguments, etc. If you come back at me and say that "strike out" is, as you refer to it, a "complex lexeme," I would point out that the same "complex lexeme" refers as well to people "striking out" against other people, which goes back to the more traditional concept of "hit." But it is equally important to note that every day from early April to late October, baseball, America's favorite pastime, has millions of viewers. In fact, I'd almost be willing to wager a small fortune that during those months of the year, the word "strike" is used more often, every single day to refer to a "strike" in baseball than it is used in all other contexts together. In other words, every single day, the word "strike" is used far more often to refer to a "miss" that it is used to refer to a "hit." This can hardly be referred to simply as a idiosyncratic usage. (3) This leads to the third point, and that is that when you ask, "Where do I deny usage in my discussions, both here and previously?" you are equivocating, because you still tie "meaning" to a "single unique" underlying concept. You still deny that the usage constitutes the meaning. And that's the problem. More often than not, the meaning of "strike" as it is used in North America today, is "miss," not "hit." As far as "meaning" is concerned, the word "strike" has become divorced from the underlying concept. It cannot be denied that there is still a relationship and a development of one from the other; but, as far as meaning is concerned, there are two very different meanings in operation. Blessings, Jerry Jerry Shepherd Taylor Seminary Edmonton, Alberta [email protected]
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