On Friday on the quiz I'm a bit confused on the vague and ambiguous section. I re-read it in the book but that really didn't help with clearing it up. I also looked at my notes and have written down that vague means not very descriptive and meaning having a ambiguous double meaning that one i understand like the word bat having two meanings.Can someone give me an example of vague that would help pick it out because on the quiz that was the hardest part for me. Thanks for the help and i hope that everyone enjoys the long weekend :)
( oh one last thing what was the homework because i didn't catch what he said at the end thanks again).
I could use the word 'hot' in both ways.
ReplyDeleteA vague way to use it would be:
'It's really hot out today.'
This is because the perspective of someone who flew up from florida for the weekend wouldnt match your definition of 'hot'. These people would possibly need a jacket because of the temps. they're regularly used to.
Then an ambiguous way:
'That black mazaratti is a wicked hot car.'
This could be taken as how I entended it to be - that the car is attractive (slang). But it also has another possible meaning - that it has been sitting out in the sun all day with its windows up and if you got in with shorts on, your legs would probably get second degree burns on those sxe Italian leather seats (literal temp).
Thanks Josh that make a lot of sense to me.
ReplyDeleteVagueness is a property of all terms that refer to processes -- things that come in degrees.
ReplyDeleteAmbiguity is a property of all terms that have two or more distinct meanings.
Josh's example of a term that can be both vague and ambiguous is a good one.
Please turn off the 'word verification' feature on your blog, to make commenting less awkward.
ReplyDeleteI will give you an example of a vague expression and an ambiguous one. A vague expression is saying something that refers to degrees. Someone might say it is really painful to get acupuncture, whereas another person may think it is soothing. An example of an ambiguous expression is one like cut. Do i mean that i have a cut, or that i want to cut something with scissors. I hope this helps you to understand it a little bit better. I know after reviewing the notes many times, I have finally began to grasp the difference between the two words.
ReplyDelete