What’s in a word?

You may know this famous exchange between Humpty Dumpty and Alice in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass:

“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.”
“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”
“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master—that’s all.”

This is more than a fairy tale, a harmless tale for children.   There are plenty of people aiming to do exactly this: to master words and their meanings. By doing so, they will be able to master the culture. Indeed, it is happening already. The word ‘gay’ has been taken over by the homosexual community to the extent that its original meaning has all but disappeared. The word ‘partner’ has virtually replaced the word ‘spouse’, surely because it says nothing about the nature of the partnership.   Most recently, and most tellingly, the meaning of the word ‘marriage’ has been changed in law so as to include same-sex ‘marriages’. Now, have you noticed that there is talk of ‘assisted dying’, when it would be more accurate to call it ‘assisted suicide’ (or ‘killing’ or even ‘murder’). Notice that the words we use affect how we feel about something. Words matter; they convey truth (and error). The father of lies knew that only too well when he invited the first woman to discuss with him, “Did God really say…?” (Genesis 3:1, NIV).