At a certain point, what people mean when they use a word becomes its meaning.
William SafireRead
Is sloppiness in speech caused by ignorance or apathy? I don't know and I don't care.
Interpretation
Sloppiness in speech can stem from a lack of knowledge or a lack of concern, but ultimately both are unimportant.
William Safire's quote reflects a view on communication, suggesting that carelessness in how we speak might arise from either ignorance or apathy. However, he expresses indifference to the cause, implying that the impact of such sloppiness is what truly matters, highlighting the importance of clarity and intention in communication.
In practice
During a public speaking event to stress the importance of precise language.
At a certain point, what people mean when they use a word becomes its meaning.
Previously known for its six syllables of sweetness and light, reconciliation has become the political fighting word of the year.
Dangling punch lines to forgotten stories remain in the language like the smile of the Cheshire cat.
Never assume the obvious is true.
Stop worrying about the 'dumbing down' of our language by bloggers, tweeters, cableheads and MSM thumbsuckers engaged in a 'race to the bottom' of the page by little minds confined to little words.
Sometimes I know the meaning of a word but am tired of it and feel the need for an unfamiliar, especially precise or poetic term, perhaps one with a nuance that flatters my readership's exquisite sensitivity.
Education is the single-most important civil rights issue that we face today.
Education is for improving the lives of others and for leaving your community and world better than you found it.
I think the next thing I publish will be for children, but I don't really want to be held to that because I also know what my next book for adults will be, and I really like that, too, so it depends. I've always had more than one thing going.
It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations. Bartlett's Familiar Quotations is an admirable work, and I studied it intently. The quotations when engraved upon the memory give you good thoughts. They also make you anxious to read the authors and look for more.
The entering class I joined in 1956 included just nine women, up from five in the then second-year class, and only one African American. All professors, in those now-ancient days, were of the same race and sex.
I don't see why a book shouldn't be intellectually sound, entertaining, and fun to read. Historians who write academic history, which is unreadable, are basically wasting their time.
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