[PLUG-TALK] Re: [PLUG] Happy Birthday, Portland!

[Jeme A Brelin]

On Mon, 26 Jan 2004 gepr at tempusdictum.com wrote:
> Jeme A Brelin writes:
>  > On Mon, 26 Jan 2004 gepr at tempusdictum.com wrote:
>  > > Russell Senior writes:
>  > >  > Define "love".
>  > >
>  > > This one will do:
>  > > 1.  A deep, tender, ineffable feeling of affection and solicitude
>  > >     toward a person, such as that arising from kinship, recognition of
>  > >     attractive qualities, or a sense of underlying oneness.
>  > > 2.  A feeling of intense desire and attraction toward a person with
>  > >     whom one is disposed to make a pair; the emotion of sex and
>  > >     romance.
>  > > 3   a. Sexual passion.
>  > >     b. Sexual intercourse.
>  > >     c. A love affair.
>  > > 4.  An intense emotional attachment, as for a pet or treasured
>  > >     object.
>  > > 5.  A person who is the object of deep or intense affection or
>  > >     attraction; beloved. Often used as a term of endearment.
>  > > 6.  An expression of one's affection: Send him my love.
>  > > 7   a. A strong predilection or enthusiasm: a love of language.
>  > >     b. The object of such an enthusiasm: The outdoors is her greatest
>  > >     love.
>  > > 8.  Love Mythology Eros or Cupid.
>  > > 9.  often Love Christianity Charity.
>  > > 10. Sports A zero score in tennis.
>  >
>  > That's the closest to it.
>  >
>  > To love people is to want the best for them and to do whatever you can to
>  > make their lives better.
>  >
>  > Sometimes this means personal sacrifice and it almost always means a
>  > little extra effort.
>  >
>  > This is what we need to do for all things.
>
> I disagree.  I think (1-7) are the most frequently used and should be
> the primary references for how people use the word.

Woah... it's a real and valid sense of the word.  It is the one that is
meant in that context.  You don't mean 3 when you're talking about your
mom or your cat (hopefully) and you don't mean 4 when you're talking about
your lover (hopefully).

You can't just ignore one of the meanings of the word just because it
doesn't fit with your argument.

> "To love people" means "to have an intense emotional attachment to the
> concept of 'people'".  It's a generalization and a stereotype just like
> any other.

No, it doesn't.  It means, in this context, a charitable feeling toward
all individual people.

> I've also seen it used in the sense of "a strong predilection for
> _interacting_ with other people".

Not here.  That's not what it means in this context.

> Thanks for misquoting me, Jeme.  [grin] I appreciate the subtlety.

I didn't misquote you.  You quoted some dictionary or other's different
meanings of the word and I showed which one I meant.

See, with these sorts of things you CAN just pick one of the meanings and
leave the others.  That's how words work.

J.
-- 
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     Jeme A Brelin
    jeme at brelin.net
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