From: Martz (martz@martz.demon.co.uk)
Date: Mon Jan 13 1997 - 14:03:03 MST
On Mon, 13 Jan 1997, QueeneMUSE@aol.com wrote:
<snip Definitions of genius>
>From the Oxford English:
Genius n. (pl. geniuses or genii)
1 (pl. geniuses)
a. an exceptional intellectual or creative power or other natural
ability or tendency.
b. a person having this.
2 the tutelary spirit of a person, place, institution etc.
3 a person or spirit regarded as powerfully influencing a person for
good or evil.
4 the prevalent feeling or associations etc. of a nation, age, etc.
This is not a "my dictionary is better than yours" post, just an
observation that what order definitions appear in is largely irrelevant.
What is important is what is intended by the usage of a word and I think
it was quite clear from the original post what the author was trying to
say.
BTW Nadia, thanks for making me reach for the dictionary on that one; I
had never come across usage #4 before.
> There's only one thing I know FOR SURE about genius, and that is: you
> don't become one by talking, discussing, or thinking about being one.
Does that mean we've both just disqualified ourselves? ;)
-- Martz martz@martz.demon.co.uk For my public key, <mailto:m.traynor@ic.ac.uk> with 'Send public key' as subject an automated reply will follow. No more random quotes.
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