Lewis Carroll penned those words over a hundred years ago, but he didn't mean them.  They were spoken by Humpty Dumpty to Alice, and she -- rightly -- protested the flagrant abuse of communication.

But I've found this very thing being done today, and by professional communicators.   Words with very clear meanings are being "redefined", to the point where it's hard to tell if you're even talking about the same subject sometimes.

I recently read a book about strengths and talents.  In an early chapter, the authors redefined the word "talent" to include almost every kind of character quality, good or bad.  It served their purposes well enough, but didn't help anyone understand the nature of a talent.

Possibly the worst example is one I saw recently in a business that uses the word "Integrity" as one of its "Key Points."  There was a picture on the wall of rock climbers or something, and the caption read something like this:

"Wisdom is knowing which path to take next.  Integrity is taking it."  With a definition like that, you could get away with just about any kind of nefarious behavior and still think you're acting with "integrity".  You can manipulate and belittle people, put novices in authority over them, threaten and abuse them, and make them say positive things about their situation...and still be acting with "integrity".

Now, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines "Integrity" as follows: "firm adherence to a code of esp. moral or artistic values."  That's a far cry from the sloganeering picture I saw, which sounds more like "determination" than anything else.

But with people who should know better playing fast and loose with words and their meanings, I'm not surprised that we have such a hard time understanding each other these days.

Thanks for your time.  Let me know how you feel about this issue.