Same word, different meanings

Writing. Writing a blog post is very different from writing an email, a deck, a memo, a book, or a comment. Compare this with St. Bonaventura’s description of making books:

1. Scribe: Write the work of others, adding/changing nothing

2. Compiler: Write the work of others, with additions not your own

3. Commentator: Write the work of others in principal place, with your own work for purposes of explanation

4. Author: Write your own work in principal place with others’ for purpose of confirmation

Not to mention the ultimate insult to a writer; to call them a mere typist. (That is also very different.)

This is part of an overarching pattern, too; we don’t often go with the dictionary definition of words (thank goodness!), which also means it takes time to come together and agree on what we’re discussing. The more nuanced your definition—the more you care—the better the discussion.

See also don’t think to write, write to think.

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