On 7/2/07, James E. Henderson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
kelsey hudson wrote:
> Stewart Stremler wrote:
>
>> Introducing ambiguity is bad.
>
> Give me ambiguity, or give me something else!
>
>
One alternative to ambiguity is having to increase the number of
distinct words we use. Or, turning that around, we overload our words,
giving many words several meanings each, to avoid having to invent more
words and the price we pay is that we sometimes have to decipher the
meaning from context. But context is one of the tools that allow us to
read "sloppy English" from a noisy channel.
The function of ambiguity is to permit overloading.
If we didn't have ambiguity in the language we would not have good
crossword puzzles.
carl
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carl lowenstein marine physical lab u.c. san diego
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