<div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div>On Thu, Sep 16, 2021 at 2:51 PM Anton Sherwood via extropy-chat <<a href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org">extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org</a>> wrote:<br></div></div><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">Yes, by all means let's use any old word that more or less resembles <br>
what we mean, everyone will know what we mean.</blockquote><div><br></div><div>What part of the following is unclear?</div><div><br></div><div>"The Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary, Collins English Dictionary and the Oxford Dictionaries regard the form <i>comprised of</i> as standard English usage."</div><div><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">We may as well say <br>
"give" when we mean "take", because context will prevent any confusion, <br>
right? Until there's a context in which two different meanings will <br>
fit, and we can't use words to distinguish between them because, hey, a <br>
dictionary says it's just fine to use them in either sense. Wouldn't <br>
want to be stuffy or anything.<br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>There's ample room for ambiguity in proper English. Assuming that everyone is using the same dictionary that you're using is a good way to introduce it. Usage changes over time. Railing against it is silly and futile.</div><div><br></div><div>-Dave</div><div> </div></div></div>