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Definitional retreat – changing the meaning of a word when an objection is raised. [23] Often paired with moving the goalposts (see below), as when an argument is challenged using a common definition of a term in the argument, and the arguer presents a different definition of the term and thereby demands different evidence to debunk the argument.
The sentence can be given as a grammatical puzzle [7] [8] [9] or an item on a test, [1] [2] for which one must find the proper punctuation to give it meaning. Hans Reichenbach used a similar sentence ("John where Jack had...") in his 1947 book Elements of Symbolic Logic as an exercise for the reader, to illustrate the different levels of language, namely object language and metalanguage.
Cant has a number of different meanings, including a slope or slant, or a kind of slang or jargon spoken by a particular group of people. "Canting arms" is a coat-of-arms that represents meaning of the bearer's surname. Standard: I can't understand the dialogue in this book because it is written in cant. Standard: Heralds do not pun; they cant ...
Anadrome: a word or phrase that reads as a different word or phrase in reverse; Apronym: an acronym that is also a phrase pertaining to the original meaning RAS syndrome: repetition of a word by using it both as a word alone and as a part of the acronym; Recursive acronym: an acronym that has the acronym itself as one of its components
For the second portion of the list, see List of words having different meanings in American and British English: M–Z. Asterisked (*) meanings, though found chiefly in the specified region, also have some currency in the other region; other definitions may be recognised by the other as Briticisms or Americanisms respectively. Additional usage ...
In the English language, there are grammatical constructions that many native speakers use unquestioningly yet certain writers call incorrect. Differences of usage or opinion may stem from differences between formal and informal speech and other matters of register, differences among dialects (whether regional, class-based, generational, or other), difference between the social norms of spoken ...
For the first portion of the list, see List of words having different meanings in American and British English (A–L). Asterisked (*) meanings, though found chiefly in the specified region, also have some currency in the other dialect; other definitions may be recognised by the other as Briticisms or Americanisms respectively. Additional usage ...
"Wandering planet" – the word planet comes from the Greek word 'πλανήτης (planḗtēs), which itself means "wanderer". "If you know, you know", a common English phrase. "A pair of two"; by its nature, a pair is two items, so "a pair of two" is redundant. "What's for you won't go by you", a Scottish proverb that is tautological