Chapter 3, Questions 1-5

1. Would it be better to celebrate "unbirthdays" rather than birthdays? If so, why? If not, why?
It would be better to celebrate birthdays because if "unbirthdays" could be celebrated 364 days of the year then after a while it will get old and boring.

2. Was Humpty Dumpty correct when he asserted that words mean whatever he wants them to mean?
I think that Humpty Dumpty is partially right because words can take on other meanings but there should also be core words where the meaning never changes, otherwise if all words can mean whatever each individual wants then it would be hard keeping track of what each word means.

3.What is the difference between connotation and denotation?
Connotations are words that are associtated with words that have a primary meaning and denotation is the direct meaning of a word.

4. Are the dictionary makers "masters" of what words mean? Defend your answer.
In a way they are because when we want to know what a word means, we look it up in the dictionary and stand by what the dictionary says is a meaning for a word.

5. If words could mean whatever we wanted them to mean, could we communicate with others?
It would be extrememly hard to communicate with others if the words meant what we wanted them to mean because your definition for one word could be completely different then someone elses. It would also make it harder to translate words from one language to another because on top of being in a different language there would be different meanings to each word.