I am in-flight to Austin, TX, where I will be lecturing about my semantic research. As a last procrastinatory measure before preparing my lectures, I glanced at the American Airlines magazine American Way, May 1, 2005 edition. On the last page is a column called “Arguing, We Are” by Jim Shahin. Here is what he writes:

Dr. Deepak Chopra, the high-profile spiritual guru and bestselling author, said recently that he has never had an argument with his wife.

When my wife heard this, she said, “Does he talk to her?”

[…]

Maybe Dr. Chopra was speaking semantically [my emphasis, KvF]. Maybe it all depends on what the definition of “argument” is. Maybe he means that he has never thrown a dish across the room.

So, now as semanticists we not only have to contend with the constant slur of something being called a matter of “mere semantics” but we also have to accept that when someone is “speaking semantically” they rely on narrow interpretations of crucial terms and ignore the usual common-sense meaning of those terms.

[On to real semantics. My handouts for the talks in Austin are available online].