Re: Terminology Question concerning Web Architecture and Linked Data

Ed Davies scripsit:

> If somebody thinks the URIs under discussion aren't
> aliases then they presumably also think that it is
> invalid to translate the Dutch word "kat" to the
> English word "cat" because you can't look up "cat"
> in an Dutch dictionary.

I am willing to bet, ignorant of Dutch as I am, that there is
a range of uses for "cat" which "kat" cannot bear, and perhaps
vice versa as well.  Absolute synonymy is very rare even in
a single language (usually it shows up in technical terms,
like "Jakob-Creuzfeld disease" vs. "Creuzfeld-Jakob disease"
vs. "spongiform brain encephalopathy") and across different
languages it is unheard-of.

> Doesn't "alias" (or owl:sameAs) mean just "refers to
> the same thing", not "identical for all possible
> purposes"?  I don't think two terms being aliases (or
> owl:sameAs) implies that:

That is a distinction without a difference, for it is the
very essence of identicals that they are indiscernible, or as
Mr. Spock once put it, a difference that makes no difference
is no difference.

-- 
A witness cannot give evidence of his           John Cowan
age unless he can remember being born.          cowan@ccil.org
  --Judge Blagden                               http://www.ccil.org/~cowan

Received on Wednesday, 25 July 2007 14:16:28 UTC