I believe it was Humpty Dumpty who was the
word-master:
'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in
rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor
less.'
'The question is,' said Alice, 'whether you CAN make words mean
so many different things.'
'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty,
'which is to be master—that's all.'
Alice was too much puzzled to say
anything, so after a minute Humpty Dumpty began again. 'They've a temper, some
of them—particularly verbs, they're the proudest—adjectives you can do anything
with, but not verbs—however, I can manage the whole lot of them!
Impenetrability! That's what I say!'
'Would you tell me, please,' said
Alice 'what that means?'
'Now you talk like a reasonable child,' said
Humpty Dumpty, looking very much pleased. 'I meant by "impenetrability" that
we've had enough of that subject, and it would be just as well if you'd mention
what you mean to do next, as I suppose you don't mean to stop here all the rest
of your life.'
'That's a great deal to make one word mean,' Alice said
in a thoughtful tone.
'When I make a word do a lot of work like that,'
said Humpty Dumpty, 'I always pay it extra.'
'Oh!' said Alice. She was
too much puzzled to make any other remark.1
I
think I know how she felt.
1 Through the
Looking-Glass, by Lewis Carroll, via Project
Gutenberg
--- (c) assigned to PJ
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