# RE: [stack] Meaning

## wtanksley@bigfoot.com — 2000-06-07 19:13:55

    From: srenner@... [mailto:srenner@...]

     >--- In concatenative@egroups.com, wtanksley@b... wrote:

    >> Does a native Greek speaker "see" 'naus' as 'boat'?

    >> The answer is "yes and no".  The native Greek speaker doesn't

    >> translate to

    >> English before he understands the words of Greek; however, when he

    >> sees 'naus' he may get a picture in his head which looks very much

    >> like

    >The idea that words have their meanings by virtue of pictures in the

    >head is wrong.

     That's exactly why I said 'may get' rather than 'gets'.  He's free to not

    get a picture, and he'll understand the word -- but if he gets a picture,

    it'll look something like the one I, a native English speaker, am capable of

    getting.

    It won't look exectly the same for two reasons: first, the two words mean

    subtly different things, and second, my boats are different from his boats.

    Yes, language is one of my pastimes.  Mainly as they pertain to classical

    poetry -- Greek and Latin.

    -Billy