Polysemy

Words gather here, but what about those words? Although the title of this note says it all, I should explain. If you are as mystified as I was before I looked it up, you have no idea what polysemy is about. I will explain.

Polysemy means a word has many meanings. 

Are you still there?
OK, there's more.

Most words have multiple meanings. Therefore, to be clear, we should explain what we mean. On the other hand, too many explanations can hamper communication. If it's too much, we just stop paying attention.

But 'polysemy' itself has only one meaning, which I have already told you. It is a technical word used only in lexical semantic analysis. You don't care about that, so I should shut up about polysemy and let you go empty the garbage or have a snack.

Sorry, I have more to say. Read or not; your choice. I'm going to ramble on.

Some words have only one dictionary meaning, monosemy. 

'Lucrative' is one such word with only one meaning "profitable", according to Vocabulary.com. But creative writers are never satisfied with using a word only one way. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, 'lucrative' can also mean "greedy of gain" describing a person running a business rather than the business itself. 

For example, if I insisted you pay to read this blog, and you actually paid, then the blog could be  lucrative (profitable), and I could also be described as lucrative (greedy). This is a transferred epithet, broadening the meaning of 'lucrative'. By the way, neither I nor the blog is lucrative. I'm writing this to distract myself while dinner is in the oven. This note is free.

Polysemy is the rule. Monosemy is the exception. Words accumulate meaning in use. That is the reason there are so few monosemic words. As a result, monosemic words are literally as scarce as hen's teeth. 

Aha !  The word 'literally' in the previous sentence is an example of the point I'm making. 'Literally' implies "actually, factually accurate". But a hen actually has no teeth. Therefore 'literally as scarce as hen's teeth' does not actually apply to monosemic words, of which there are a few more than hen's teeth. In this case, the word 'literally' is used figuratively to stretch a metaphor that doesn't quite fit. 

This is so much fun !
But I should quit tying words in knots.
You are busy.
Let me summarize.

Words in use accumulate meaning.
Dictionaries are always out of date.
We should explain what we mean.
Otherwise we keep each other guessing.
We should keep it simple.
Otherwise people stop paying attention.

I'm done.
It is literally time for dinner.

Phronesis

Pardon my French, or Greek, or whatever. Phronesis is practical wisdom, good judgment, making decisions that get good results. I just baited the line with that strange word to reel you in. You can spit out the hook now. I won't be mentioning phronesis again.

Since you are here, you might as well stay for dinner. Let me mix some metaphors as an appetizer. The main course will be ethics. Dessert is a secret surprise.

This all came to mind while I was dreaming about being a teenage gangster, going along with the guys out under the summer sun, but uneasy about what we were up to. I don't recall what we were up to, so I have nothing to confess except the anxiety of not knowing whether we were doing the right thing. Older now, I'm still not sure we're doing the right thing. By the way, you and I are now in the same gang; don't deny it. OK, whatever. Anyway you can help out in the kitchen. I'm curious about the right thing, so I looked up the recipe for ethics in Wikipedia.

Ethics is a dish with three ingredients: virtue, deontology, consequences. 

Virtue is promoting altruism and suppressing selfishness. Self care isn't bad, but it isn't the whole story. Don't forget the others. No me without us.

Add a spoonful of deontology:
rules,
duties,
responsibilities.
The French call it maîtrise de soi.
Les anglais l'appellent self control.
Excusez-moi. Ici, nous sommes bilingues.

Next stir in some consequentialism: if...then. 
If we care for others and follow the rules,
then good things may happen.
Sinon, de mauvaises choses pourraient arriver.

Here's dessert, hiding under a shiny question.
Who should we care for?
En français: de qui devons-nous prendre soin ?
Or using proper Boomer grammar:
for whom should we care?

  self
  family
  tribe
  those who share our beliefs, customs, goals
  neighbours nearby
  friends far away
  allies
  adversaries
  homo sapiens everywhere
  useful living things
  all living things
  things not yet living but soon to come
  everything useful, living or not
  everything on Earth, useful or not
  planet Earth
  the sun
  the solar system
  the galaxy
  the universe

Things we like best (dessert) are at the top of this list and we like things less as we go down. At the bottom we just don't care. The universe is not on the menu. The galaxy is not something I think about much. The solar system is as appetizing as spinach.

But the sun is interesting (like crème brûlée). You need sunlight to make vitamin D. Years ago, the gang thought sunburn was healthy and peeling was next to godliness. We didn't get that right. Now the doctor says my skin should be a chapter in a medical textbook. She apologized for taking four biopsies. I said it was OK as long as she left me enough skin to collect the pension. 

Now I confess. I told a lie about not mentioning phronesis again. Here it is. Phronesis is part of the meal, even if we're too full of altruism, rules, consequences and dessert to take a bite. Bag it up and take it with you. It's great warmed over.

Let me explain the metaphor. However ethical our efforts, however much we like what we are doing, we don't know all about what things are or how they work. So when unintended consequences threaten, we learn from experience, adjust the rules, make a new plan, and keep trying to get it right. 

Let's stop repeating mistakes. You youngsters, limit your time in the sun and use a good sunscreen or you will end up like me. That's phronesis.

Où est mon chapeau? Je vais faire une promenade.

*************
A step further up the dessert list there's the Earth:
Earth as resource to be managed,
Earth as home in need of serious maintenance,
Earth as Mother of the whole gang.
What are the rules here on Earth
and what about the rest of the list?
I'm not sure we have it right.
Are there risks of using sunscreen?
Damage to coral reefs?
If we carry on with business as usual,
que va-t-il se passer ensuite ?

En anglais : what happens next ?
*************

Gemütlichkeit and Other Ways of Dying: Jessica Boehme, WildPhilosophy

Why Aren't All Deserts Covered With Solar Panels:
Just Have a Think, Jan 18, 2026

No Obvious Answers

There's a problem with Christmas.

I'm in the mall, killing time while Dorothy Christmas shops. I don't Christmas shop. I do the carrying. Just now I'm at the pharmacy where I buy a present for myself, the last package of Sensor Excel razor blades on the shelf so I don't have to throw away my favorite razor handle. Now I'm heading back to the shops to find Dorothy who is busy buying gifts for other people. 

A lady missing most of her front teeth spies me, comes over and asks if I can help her because it's the end of the month and she's out of groceries. I say, "Of course" and give her a twenty. 

A twenty. For groceries. Our last grocery bill was twenty times twenty! Not sure I gave her enough.

Continuing on my way to the shops, I am visited by three ghosts of beggars past. One of them got nothing from me. Another got a coffee. The third got enough to dunk a muffin in the coffee. 

I know what you're thinking. By Christmas morning I'm going to have an epiphany and write the toothless lady a cheque for dentures. You're wrong. Dorothy writes the cheques. She might even go for dentures. She's Mrs Claus. Not sure of my part in this drama, maybe Ebenezer or Shrek. 

I'm of two minds about giving because there isn't a law. Too much or too little won't put you in jail. However, there is a guideline: don't give away more than you've got. So far, so good.

Some music of the season comes to mind. 

Here's the whole song:

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat
Please put a penny in the old man's hat
If you haven't got a penny, a ha'penny will do
If you haven't got a ha'penny, then God bless you!

You know the song. You also know that in spite of the warm feelings the song evokes, the goose, the penny and the ha'penny are out of fashion. I don't think I have ever dined on goose, haven't found any pennies lately, and I've never seen a ha'penny.

Yet we cherish the antique songs. Even when we have forgotten their origin, we find lasting meaning in them. God bless you, indeed. 

God bless you. Really? Do we seriously imagine that those words, spoken or sung, however fervently, will alter anyone's situation for the better? 

Well, yes and no, but yes.

Yes. Singing a goodwill song among friends is itself a blessing.

And no. The belief that God will bless us doesn't hold up amidst the injustice, hunger, disease, disaster, grief, and missing teeth experienced by many here and around the world in spite of earnest prayers. 

But yes. If our God-thoughts move us to care for each other, we are all blessed.

Sometimes we imagine that believing the unbelievable is what faith demands of us. Abraham, Moses, Jesus and many prophets since have shown us otherwise. They questioned beyond the beliefs of their day to better understand the way things are. As for me, I believe that God is not offended by our questions. 

Even our best understanding is not God.

God remains Mystery.

God as the Mystery-of-What-Is was new understanding attributed to Moses (according to legend). What-we-make-of-it is merely an imperfect representation of What-Is. If what-we-make-of-it distracts us from the Mystery-of-What-Is, that is idolatry, which is forbidden by the first commandment carved in stone (according to legend). 

Ah, commandments. In spite of his transcendent insight into the Mystery of What-Is, Moses did a very human thing; he imagined God as Law-Giver and Judge, roles with which he was familiar (according to legend) as an adopted member of Pharaoh's family. The God-as-Law-Giver-and-Judge metaphor became a new idol, replacing ritual obeisance to a golden calf with submission to authority reinforced by threats of punishment if you disobey. Pharaoh had been using that trick very effectively to manage his slaves. Religion would make the Law profitable by requiring sacrifice as atonement for sin (according to legend). The law is still mis-used even today as a tool of religious extortion. At the time, three thousand years ago or more, it wasn't obvious that there was something wrong with that. Looking to the Mystery beyond the law (as Jesus did centuries later), we see that there was something wrong.

Long after Moses, a baby was born who would mature to see through the abuse of law revealing the law's true principle and purpose, helping willful people live together with mutual benefit. So law is many things; but if we keep questioning we find that God is certainly more than what-we-have-made-of-the-law. 

There is a problem with Christmas.
There is no law for giving.

So what do you give to those who have
too much already
or everything they need
or not enough?

Will a ha'penny do?

No obvious answers here.
Look to the Mystery.

It's Not Easy Being Green

You probably heard of the recent passing of Sophie Kinsella, author of the Shopaholic novels. The central character in many of her stories is a woman addicted to shopping who would like to be frugal to please her husband and family, but just can't manage it. So her life is in constant chaos. 

That's us, all of us. We are so immersed in a culture of consumption and growth that even if we know better, we carry on with what we're doing.

It's not easy doing the right thing. This is about that, addiction to consumption and growth.  Others have said it better than I can. Click the links. Come back when you have time and click some more.

How To Change Your Life: Jessica Böhme, Wild Philosophy, Dec 15, 2025

If We Wait It Will Be Too Late: Liam Gilliver, MSN, Dec 1, 2025

Struggle of Activists in Politics: CBC News, Nov 29, 2025

Why Some People See Collapse Earlier Than Others: Adrian Lambert, A Grand Unified Theory of Doom

How to Think About The Coming Decade of Dramitic Disruption: Michael Haupt, Framer OS

Corporate Climate Responsibility: Just Have A Think. Dec 7, 2025 of Doom.

Home Batteries in Australia: Just Have a Think, Dec 14, 2025

Lost Species Day

Hallowe'en, a celebration of the dead, was over a month ago. Christmas is coming, a celebration of the aspirational best of what it means to be alive. 

Sandwiched between those special days, yesterday, November 30, was Lost Species Day. Why didn't I know that? I also didn't know that the third Friday in May is Endangered Species Day. 

It seems like people, dead or alive, are more important than bugs and birds, whales and walrus, or forests and fungi. Yes, our human-centrism is natural. We don't survive without caring for ourselves. But there are no humans without the more-than-human world to which we belong. Maybe we shouldn't mess it up.

My previous note has been opened 23 times so far. I suspect my friends were curious, noticed that I was obsessing about ecological disaster as usual, and moved on because disaster is depressing and you had more interesting things to do. 

We have a choice. We can do the more challenging things: confront the trouble we are in, as unpleasant as that may be, and join an emerging culture of active hope by living with respect and restraint in a beautiful, broken world. We are more than merely human. We belong to the Earth.

In case you missed it, in my opinion, the following essay is worth the effort:

Homo Sapiens: Inherently Unsustainable: William E Rees, Nov 24, 2025

What I Learned Last Week

Some optimists imagine that economic growth can continue indefinitely using yet more fossil fuel, since we have science and technology to deal with problems. No worries. We will fix things and get rich.

Knowledge is good. Right? Let's see about that. 

When people are starving, would it be good to feed them using advances in agriculture? If people are ill, would it be good to provide medicines and vaccines? Well, we have been good to the hungry and sick, and we have grown the human population by a factor of eight in two centuries. Growth has been enabled by applied science and fueled by coal, oil, and natural gas. We have been smart enough to thrive, but not wise enough to avoid the consequences of success including yet more famine and disease, the very problems we were trying to solve. To these we have added extinctions, degradation of forests and coral reefs, heat domes, drought, flood, monster storms, wildfires.

Now aware of trouble we are causing, we deny and minimize and deflect attention because change is disruptive, unpopular and expensive. So what we need is to sell as much oil and LNG as possible before demand crashes. Good or not so good?

We are confident of what we know,
ignoring that knowledge is imperfect and limited,
ignoring what seems unimportant or inconvenient,
ignoring naked truth hidden behind disinformation,
ignoring responsibility,
ignoring selfish motives. 
We are confidently ignorant.

To be humbly wise, we should
align our values with principles,
assume we are missing something,
ask questions,
investigate,
plan carefully,
proceed with care,
learn from consequences,
repeat until it's over.
Can we be wise enough to survive being smart?

What I learned last week:

COP30 Copout: CBC News Nov 22, 2025

Canada's Energy Future Markham Hislop,  Thoughtful Energy Journalism, Nov 20, 2025

Ecological Suicide: Alberto Carzón, Oct 24, 2025

African Energy Revolution: Just Have a Think, Nov 23, 2025

Canada Cannot Become An Energy Superpower: Markham Hislop, Nov 23, 2025

Canada's Energy Third Way: Markham Hislop, Nov 24, 2025

Homo Sapiens: Inherently Unsustainable: William E Rees, Nov 24, 2025

Let's Live

I've been using the same razor, the Gillette Sensor Excel, for maybe thirty years. I realize there are probably better options, but I don't bother thinking about which razor is best until I run out of blades. 

I used my last cartridge of Sensor Excels this week. Dorothy looked for replacements at the grocery store hoping to prevent another episode of hirsute husband as in the photo above, but she couldn't find Sensor Excel. She picked up some disposables instead. I guess I will be adding extra plastic litter to the landfill. Anyway I can still shave, and that saved me a week of research looking for the best alternative. 

Speaking of research, I don't think much about the science behind shaving; but according to Wikipedia that is actually a thing. For example, there is the hysteresis effect discovered by Norman C. Welsh in England in 1964, the year I finished university. All the good discoveries were made before our generation had a chance to investigate, so there's nothing left to know 😅.

There are so many different razors; choosing is such a bother. If I were Gillette, I would make only one model called the Cheap-N-Quick SmOOOOOOthy, for the most comfortable, inexpensive, rapid shave so you can get on with your day free of beard and band-aids. The extra OOOOOOs signify the six nifty blades that together remove everything but skin in one swipe. When the blades get dull, there is a handy sharpener that recharges using changes in barometric pressure. The plastic handle will last until the end of the anthropocene. The SmOOOOOOthy will inspire a catchy jingle in waltz time that the great great grandchildren will still be singing when we're all gone. Warning: keep your SmOOOOOOthy clear of your nose. Six blades will turn you into Voldemort cheap-n-quick.

By now you have realized that this isn't about whiskers. There has to be a point to this story or I wouldn't be bothering to write. Here goes. 

We can let somebody else make our choices: wives (or husbands), ancestors, preachers and prophets, scientists and engineers, corporations and investors, government, the law, whoever is opining on TV news or Meta or Blogspot 😏. We can follow their simple rules and keep our noses safe. But whatever we are up to, when we make a mess, there will be no mercy.

That's life.

It's complicated.
Ask questions.
Try to do the right thing.
Avoid making a mess
or else deal with the mess.
Let's live.

*****************

Has Big Oil Hijacked COP30? Just Have a Think, Nov 16, 2025

Canadian Resource Development vs Climate: CBC News, Nov 14, 2025

Microplastics: UNEP

Fossil Fuel Phaseout Plan Dropped: COP30, CBC News, Nov 21, 2025
Electrotech, Not Fossil Fuels, Will Power the Future: David Suzuki and Ian Hannington, Nov 21, 2025