I always ask “Is there anyone brave enough to get boiling hot water poured in their hand?” There is always someone. The shock is universal, each time newly boiled water is poured into a tense hand:
“It is cold!?”
Yes,
Then it’s not boiling hot water, it’s boiling cold water.
Also, this sort of thing is not clever. Even if you leave out the word “hot”, it amounts to “ha ha, you thought I was talking about a central example”. People are justified in thinking you are talking about a central example.
The beauty of “hot” is that it is a relative term. Hot for whom? I love Veritasiums old video on melting ice cubes. From the ice’s perspective a metal plate that feels cold to a human is more hot than a piece of cloth, that does not feel cold to a human. I love when things don’t match with human intuition. It may turn into a learning experience.
The beauty of “hot” is that it is a relative term. Hot for whom?
It’s implicitly relative to the speaker and/or the listener. Claiming that because you didn’t specify one of those it’s from the perspective of an ice cube is just another example of the same thing: being “clever” by deliberately pretending that there’s no such thing as conversational implicature.
Having your words be literally accurate is not the spark of genius you think it is.
Then it’s not boiling hot water, it’s boiling cold water.
Also, this sort of thing is not clever. Even if you leave out the word “hot”, it amounts to “ha ha, you thought I was talking about a central example”. People are justified in thinking you are talking about a central example.
The beauty of “hot” is that it is a relative term. Hot for whom? I love Veritasiums old video on melting ice cubes. From the ice’s perspective a metal plate that feels cold to a human is more hot than a piece of cloth, that does not feel cold to a human. I love when things don’t match with human intuition. It may turn into a learning experience.
It’s implicitly relative to the speaker and/or the listener. Claiming that because you didn’t specify one of those it’s from the perspective of an ice cube is just another example of the same thing: being “clever” by deliberately pretending that there’s no such thing as conversational implicature.
Having your words be literally accurate is not the spark of genius you think it is.