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RichardKennaway comments on Rationality Quotes September 2012 - Less Wrong
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That conundrum, to which the correct answer is "four", is not a goofy language game. It is making the point that you cannot change the truth of a proposition by changing the meanings of the words in it. When you change the meanings of the words, you are creating a different proposition. It looks like the original one, because it consists of the same string of words, but it is not. Its truth need have nothing to do with the truth of the original one.
Would you still be able to see these words if we called black white?
I always hated that question due to its ambiguity. Those who state the answer is four legs seem to interpret the question as asking: "Labeling our current language as Language-A, and mentioning a different language Language-B in which 'leg' also refers to tails, and keeping in mind that we do not speak Language-B, how many legs does a dog have?"
However, for some reason I first interpreted the question as asking: "Labeling our current language as Language-A, and mentioning a different language Language-B in which 'leg' also refers to tails, what is the answer to 'how many legs does a dog have?' in Language-B?"
I apologies for both the brevity and ambiguity of these interpretations. However, I doubt that I am the only person who interprets the question in something along the lines of my fashion.