Can our words mean whatever we want them to mean? (2021)
blogs.kent.ac.ukMy life experience is that people will usually interpret other people's actions from the perspective as if they did them and what their own motivation would be. So in the case of the taxi driver and little girl, the taxi driver is a jerk because he would only do it to brag and irritate others. He couldn't fathom that a child was just having fun.
So I think it's really an examination of our ownselves.
Indeed.
Every one of us, without exception, views and interprets the world through the lens of our own minds. That lens distorts our perception far more than many think. Correcting for that distortion takes a lot of effort and is rarely perfectly or consistently done.
"People often mistake the limits of their view for the limits of the world."
Concur.
"Mean" to whom? They mean to the utterer what they mean to the utterer, and to the recipient what they mean to the recipient. There is no objective "mean" that applies to both.
Think how many people say that art is to have its meaning generated by the observer, not what the artist meant. Same but from another side.