> Chris Olson - SunPS writes: > OK, now what if all the dictionary-writers got together and > decided to change "fig" to mean "prune"? Would that make it > right? > > If it reflected usage, yes. See how the definition of "nice" mutated > from a negative one to a positive one, for example. Ok, but what about the rest of humanity who still see fig as fig? Basicly, where does one draw the line? How many people need to be using a word differently for it to have a different meaning? As for "nice", I've heard it used (and, I'll admit, use it myself) as an exclamation of disbelief, irony, or sarcasm... "You say your boss just fired you? Nice..." And I'd be curious to know where others on this list draw their own lines as to new word usage, or do they just take everything as it comes and accept it? "Well, it's being used that way, so now it means that..." Still having fun, Chris "So farewell hope, and with hope, farewell fear, Farewell remorse! All good to me is lost; Evil, be thou my Good" - John Milton - 'Paradise Lost'