Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. wrote, in a Supreme Court opinion no less, that “a word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged; it is the skin of a living thought and may vary greatly in color and content according to the circumstances and time in which it is used.” This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “A Word is Not a Crystal”
In 1918, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. wrote a Supreme Court decision that had a beautiful description of language. He wrote, “A word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged. It is the skin of a living thought and may vary greatly in color and content according to the circumstances and the time in which it is used.”
Wonderful.
Isn’t that great?
It’s so true, right?
Yeah, it’s about context.
Words don’t exist by themselves.
They always have company.
Yes, I thought that was really cool to come across in a Supreme Court decision.
Mm—
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