Arguing Semantics

Sources

Full references for everything cited on this site. Numbered citations in each piece link here.

Theory and background

  • Marwick & boyd, New Media & Society (2011)

    • Alice E. Marwick and danah boyd, "I tweet honestly, I tweet passionately: Twitter users, context collapse, and the imagined audience", New Media & Society 13(1) (2011): 114–133. Link

  • Chalmers, "Verbal Disputes" (2011)

    • David Chalmers, "Verbal Disputes", Philosophical Review 120(4) (2011): 515–566. Link

  • Dennett, Intuition Pumps (2013)

    • Daniel C. Dennett, Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking (Norton, 2013), chapter 3.

  • Eisenberg, "Ambiguity as Strategy" (1984)

    • Eric Eisenberg, "Ambiguity as Strategy in Organizational Communication", Communication Monographs 51(3) (1984): 227–242.

  • Gallie, "Essentially Contested Concepts" (1956)

    • W. B. Gallie, "Essentially Contested Concepts", Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 56 (1956): 167–198. Link

  • Haslam, "Concept Creep" (2016)

    • Nick Haslam, "Concept Creep: Psychology's Expanding Concepts of Harm and Pathology", Psychological Inquiry 27(1) (2016): 1–17. Link

  • Hayakawa, Language in Thought and Action (1949)

    • S. I. Hayakawa, Language in Action (1940; Harcourt, Brace, 1941) and Language in Thought and Action (Harcourt, Brace, 1949), "Classification" chapter. Link

  • Korzybski, Science and Sanity (1933)

    • Alfred Korzybski, Science and Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics (1933; 2nd ed. 1941).

  • Orwell, "Politics and the English Language" (1946)

    • George Orwell, "Politics and the English Language", Horizon, April 1946. Link

  • Pinker, "The Game of the Name" (1994)

    • Steven Pinker, "The Game of the Name", New York Times, 5 April 1994.

  • Plunkett & Sundell, Philosophers' Imprint (2013)

    • David Plunkett and Tim Sundell, "Disagreement and the Semantics of Normative and Evaluative Terms", Philosophers' Imprint 13(23) (2013). Link

  • Shackel, "The Vacuity of Postmodernist Methodology" (2005)

    • Nicholas Shackel, "The Vacuity of Postmodernist Methodology", Metaphilosophy 36(3) (2005): 295–320. Link
    • Nicholas Shackel, blog post on motte-and-bailey doctrines (2014). Link

  • Stevenson, "Persuasive Definitions" (1938)

    • Charles L. Stevenson, "Persuasive Definitions", Mind 47(187) (1938): 331–350. Reprinted in Facts and Values (1963). Link

  • Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations §43 (1953)

    • Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, trans. G. E. M. Anscombe (Blackwell, 1953), §43.

  • Yudkowsky, "Taboo Your Words" (2008)

    • Eliezer Yudkowsky, "Disputing Definitions" (12 February 2008) and "Taboo Your Words" (15 February 2008), LessWrong. Link

Medicine

  • Chapman et al., Psycho-Oncology (2003)

    • Chapman K, Abraham C, Jenkins V, Fallowfield L. "Lay understanding of terms used in cancer consultations." Psycho-Oncology 12(6) (2003): 557–566.

  • Gotlieb et al., JAMA Network Open (2022)

    • Gotlieb et al., JAMA Network Open 5(11) (2022).

  • Knapp, Raynor & Berry (2004); EU frequency definitions

    • Knapp, Raynor and Berry, Quality & Safety in Health Care 13 (2004): 176–180.
    • European Union guidance on side-effect frequency: "common" means at least 1 in 100 and fewer than 1 in 10.

Work, law and institutions

  • Frigaliment v. B.N.S. (1960)

    • Frigaliment Importing Co. v. B.N.S. International Sales Corp., 190 F. Supp. 116 (S.D.N.Y. 1960), Judge Henry Friendly.

  • O'Connor v. Oakhurst Dairy (2017)

    • O'Connor v. Oakhurst Dairy, 851 F.3d 69 (1st Cir. 2017). The case settled in 2018 for $5 million to 127 drivers (reported in secondary sources).

  • The Scrum Guide (2020), "Definition of Done"

    • The Scrum Guide (2020), "Definition of Done".

  • Kent, "Words of Estimative Probability" (CIA, 1964)

    • Sherman Kent, "Words of Estimative Probability", Studies in Intelligence 8(4) (CIA, 1964). Link

How people misunderstand each other

  • Savitsky et al., JESP (2011)

    • Savitsky, Keysar, Epley, Carter and Swanson, "The closeness-communication bias: Increased egocentrism among friends versus strangers", Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 47(1) (2011): 269–273. Link

  • Keysar et al., Psychological Science (2000)

    • Keysar et al., "Taking perspective in conversation", Psychological Science 11(1) (2000): 32–38.

  • Kruger, Epley, Parker & Ng, JPSP (2005)

    • Kruger, Epley, Parker and Ng, "Egocentrism over e-mail: Can we communicate as well as we think?", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 89(6) (2005): 925–936. Study 3.

  • The Gottman Institute (not a peer-reviewed study)

    • The Gottman Institute: "Sixty-nine percent of relationship conflict is about perpetual problems." This figure comes from the Institute; we have not found a peer-reviewed paper that reports it.

  • Keysar & Henly, Psychological Science (2002)

    • Keysar and Henly, "Speakers' overestimation of their effectiveness", Psychological Science 13(3) (2002): 207–212.

Public opinion and politics

  • Economist/YouGov and Gallup polls (2020)

    • Economist/YouGov poll, 21–23 June 2020. Link
    • Gallup Panel, 23 June–6 July 2020 (n=36,463). Link

  • Fishkin, Siu, Diamond & Bradburn, APSR (2021)

    • Fishkin, Siu, Diamond and Bradburn, "Is Deliberation an Antidote to Extreme Partisan Polarization? Reflections on America in One Room", American Political Science Review 115(4) (2021): 1464–1481. Link
    • The suggestion that the effects faded later comes from a secondary source (a Hoover Institution piece).

  • Civiqs poll (2023); Stantcheva, Brookings (2024)

    • Civiqs/Daily Kos poll of 1,116 registered voters, 2–5 December 2023. Link
    • Stefanie Stantcheva, "Why Do We Dislike Inflation?", Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Spring 2024, with a published comment by Alan Blinder. Link

  • Citizens' Assembly report on the Eighth Amendment (2017)

    • The Citizens' Assembly (Ireland), first report, on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution (2017). Link
    • Referendum of 25 May 2018: Yes 66.4%, No 33.6% (secondary source).

  • Yale/George Mason (2014); Bartels, Brookings (2003)

    • Yale and George Mason University, "What's In A Name?" (May 2014), split-ballot survey, n=1,657. Link
    • Larry Bartels, Brookings Institution (2003), on the estate tax and "death tax". Link

  • KhudaBukhsh et al. (2021); Ding, Horning & Rho (2023)

    • KhudaBukhsh et al., "We Don't Speak the Same Language", AAAI 2021. Link
    • Ding, Horning and Rho, "Same Words, Different Meanings", ICWSM 2023. Link

  • White House CEA (2022); NBER; BEA revised GDP

    • White House Council of Economic Advisers, "How Do Economists Determine Whether the Economy Is in a Recession?", 21 July 2022. Link
    • National Bureau of Economic Research, business cycle dating. Link
    • Fortune, on Wikipedia restricting edits to its "Recession" article, 29 July 2022. Link
    • Revised real GDP growth for 2022, US Bureau of Economic Analysis via FRED. Link

  • Newport, Gallup (2018)

    • Frank Newport, Gallup, 4 October 2018 (fieldwork 4–12 September 2018, n=1,035). Link

  • Smith, Public Opinion Quarterly (1987); GSS 2024

    • Tom W. Smith, "That Which We Call Welfare by Any Other Name Would Smell Sweeter", Public Opinion Quarterly 51 (1987): 75–83. Link
    • General Social Survey public data, 2022 and 2024. The recent figures are our own weighted tabulation, not a published figure. Link
    • Huber and Paris, Public Opinion Quarterly (2013), on respondents picturing different programs under each label.

  • USA Today/Ipsos poll (2023)

    • USA Today/Ipsos poll, 3–5 March 2023 (n=1,023). Link

Marketing and regulation

  • FTC Green Guides; EU Directive 2024/825

    • Federal Trade Commission, Green Guides, 16 CFR 260.4.
    • EU Directive 2024/825, which bans generic environmental claims without proof from 27 September 2026.

  • FDA "healthy" final rule (2024)

    • US Food and Drug Administration, final rule on the "healthy" claim, published 27 December 2024.

  • FDA policy on "natural"; Consumer Reports survey (2015)

    • US Food and Drug Administration, "Use of the Term Natural on Food Labeling". Link
    • Consumer Reports survey, December 2015 (n=1,005).

  • FTC v. AT&T (settled 2019)

    • Federal Trade Commission v. AT&T, over throttled "unlimited" data plans; settled in 2019 for $60 million.