Caledonian2 comments on Replace the Symbol with the Substance - Less Wrong

34 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 16 February 2008 06:12PM

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Comment author: Caledonian2 17 February 2008 04:30:09AM 2 points [-]

The game of baseball is often played with an aluminum bat.

One of the problems with replacing a word with an expanded description of its meaning is the human tendency to shorten or simplify definitions, leaving out relevant detail in the interests of minimizing effort. When these restricted descriptions are substituted for the original meaning of the word, peculiar things can happen.