Re: [xmca] Word Meaning and Action: What' Plausible branch?

[Tony Whitson <twhitson@UDel.Edu>]

This is a less-substantial (frivolous, maybe even) post, but some besides 
me may find this amusing, and I think it does illustrate Vera's point.

On Fri, 17 Jun 2011, Vera John-Steiner referred to the

> social dissemination and negotiation of newly coined or reinterpreted 
> meanings like "cool" which in originally youth parlance did not refer to 
> temperature. That meaning can shift or have different  "meanings" according 
> to context is obvious but the consistency with which Vygotsky emphasized it 
> is "in the text."

When I started watching Brazilian movies and TV, I was struck by the use 
of "legal!" as the most common (it seems to me) Brazilian Portuguese 
equivalent for "cool!" For a while, I expected that "legal" was maybe not 
such a close equivalent, and maybe carried nuances resonating our use of 
"legal" (which is also used in Portuguese with reference to legality, 
etc.). Hearing enough instances has convinced me that when a young 
paulista says "legal!," most times she really is just saying "kewl!"
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