ABSTRACT
M OST of this book is devoted to what might be called the semantics of everyday life; and if we are thinking about the meaning of words we can never go far away from human beings, human problems and human relationships, since the purpos-e of words is to communicate and we do not communicate with the empty air. Moreover, semantics would be a mere pedantic exercise if human relationships were not involved, and on the contrary it is a study of great importance to human sincerity and happiness. However, the last two chapters will deal superficially with the meaning of words as used in poetry and rhetoric; in the verbal arts, which are in one sense operating at one remove from 'real life' and in !mother sense, being created by human beings, are still as much a part of real life as eggs and bacon.
