When talking to people in person or over the phone we usually know what we’re all talking about. Occasionally there will be a “Depends what you mean by X,” or “What do you mean by X?” or “Define what you mean by X.” But in it doesn’t really happen all that often.
But here on the boards it happens all the time. People constantly ask for definitions of words that, to me usually, seem pretty clear. So I’m curious. In real life do you ask for or get asked to define your terms as often as happens here?
In my experience, it happens all the freaking time. Probably half the time, I’m the one saying it.
When I get into a debate with somebody, it often happens that we find ourselves using words at cross-purposes — it becomes obvious that we’re not on the same page once the nature of the discussion becomes sufficiently precise to illustrate the difference. It helps to clarify.
It also happens frequently that someone I’m arguing with isn’t at all clear what they mean by X: they’ll use one vague idea to draw multiple distinct and sometimes contradictory conclusions, or else they’ll mean one thing one moment and another the next. In those cases I say “Define X” as a rhetorical device, in an attempt to get them to really think through what they mean, and — hopefully — to see the resulting weakness in their position.
Then, of course, there are the times when they use a phrase I really don’t know the meaning of, so I have to ask for an explanation.
I do notice plenty of times here on the board where asking someone to define their terms is done passive-aggressively. For instance, if someone talks about God, someone else might go “What do you mean by God?” Even if it’s clear the poster is talking about the Judeo-Christian god. It’s obviously used to mean “There’s more than one religion,” or something like that. But anyway, it seems there’s a lot of times where someone will ask for clarification, knowing full well what the other person is talking about.
Typically the people you talk with on a daily basis share a common cultural context. Either they’re your friends, so they all live in the same general area, participate in the same activities, are of similar generations, etc., or they’re your coworkers, so they share a common workplace-based language, or they’re your family, so they’ve had a lot of lot of time to develop shared habits of language. Occasionally you might disagree over a definition, but generally your words have meanings that are well-understood within the group.
But on the Internet, you have absolutely no idea with whom you are talking. They could be anywhere in the world, have any kind of cultural background, any educational level, any age or level of life experience, atc. In that situation, it is imperative to define your terms, because people really could be using words to mean something entirely different.
If you’re hanging out with your Baptist church group in Nashville, you can probably use the word “Christian” without defining it. But on the Internet you could be talking to someone for whom “Christian” has an entirely different meaning, and it’s best to clarify upfront.
In my daily life, I rarely ask people to define terms, with one exception. I work for a multinational company in communications, and I deal with people from many different divisions all over the country and the world. I try to make sure I get specific definitions for terms that may be unclear, because if I send out an email, everyone who receives it needs to be able to understand it in the same way.
