I'm, like, totally with Max (Pardon my California youthese). Not only can words have multiple category membership, they can be in between categories (not quite all the way into the one they're moving into). To connect this thread to a previous one, as Pinker and others say, categories (linguistic as well as other) have more and less prototypical members. I think Kevin ought to encourage his colleagues to read some linguistics and accept the authority of their own intuitions ... the prescriptive perspective is not the only one out there. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Johanna Rubba Assistant Professor, Linguistics English Department, California Polytechnic State University One Grand Avenue • San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 Tel. (805)-756-2184 • Fax: (805)-756-6374 • Dept. Phone. 756-259 • E-mail: [log in to unmask] • Home page: http://www.calpoly.edu/~jrubba ** "Understanding is a lot like sex; it's got a practical purpose, but that's not why people do it normally" - Frank Oppenheimer ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~