Hello Jeff,
sorry to say, I will not add examples, but felt the need to let you know how much I enjoyed and appreciated this.
Though not a native to your mother tongue, I did understand, and was really pleased.
Wonderful, and highly welcome to me.
Thank you very much.
Best regards,
Cheers,
regards from the "old continent",
Olaf

P.S.: Remember - I assume you know... - German almost, allllmost became USA's chosen official language instead of English... back in those very early years of your nation.... but a few votes decided towards the favor of (the) English....
Hey Mark, and all you other British/English folks: Don't get me wrong, please, that's quite OK with me. ;-)
I just got carried away thinking about the joy of language and speech.

: Just came across two of my favorite passages, re the meaning of
: words. This comes up from time to time, when we discuss the
: meaning of "Mint" or "New Old Stock"

: The first passage is from Through the Looking Glass, by Lewis
: Carroll. "When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said,
: in a rather scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it
: to mean - neither more nor less."

: "The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make
: words mean so many different things."

: "The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to
: be master - that's all."

: Alice was too much puzzled to say anything; so after a minute
: Humpty Dumpty began again. 'They've a temper, some of them —
: particularly verbs: they're the proudest — adjectives you can
: do anything with, but not verbs — however, I can manage the
: whole lot of them! Impenetrability! That's what I say!'

: 'Would you tell me please,' said Alice, 'what that means?'

: 'Now you talk like a reasonable child,' said Humpty Dumpty, looking
: very much pleased. 'I meant by "impenetrability" that
: we've had enough of that subject, and it would be just as well
: if you'd mention what you mean to do next, as I suppose you
: don't mean to stop here all the rest of your life.'

: "That's a great deal to make one word mean," Alice said
: in a thoughtful tone.

: "When I make a word do a lot of work like that," said
: Humpty Dumpty, "I always pay it extra."

: "Oh!" said Alice. She was too much puzzled to make any
: other remark.

: Then there is this, from Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.:
: 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.

: Any other favorite passages out there, addressing the meaning of
: words?

: Jeff