... people notice differences and expect every difference in form to convey some difference in meaning.

Unfortunately, creative people are at their most creative when writing their autobiographies.

An eye for beauty locks onto faces that show signs of health and fertility - just as one would predict if it had evolved to help the beholder find the fittest mate.

People are under the impression that dictionaries legislate language. What a dictionary does is keep track of usages over time.

I think the reason that swearing is both so offensive and so attractive is that it is a way to push people's emotional buttons, and especially their negative emotional buttons. Because words soak up emotional connotations and are processed involuntarily by the listener, you can't will yourself not to treat the word in terms of what it means.

Art works because it appeals to certain faculties of the mind. Music depends on details of the auditory system, painting and sculpture on the visual system. Poetry and literature depend on language.

Personality and socialization aren't the same thing.