Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
h a l f b a k e r y
I think this would be a great thing to not do.

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Unambiguous Colorful Text

Color your words that have homonyms to denote what you mean
  (+2, -6)
(+2, -6)
  [vote for,
against]

We talk in meanings, not just in words.

English language, which sometimes has many homonyms, is quite poor in capability to denote, what particular meaning you intend your word to be understood.

An example. If I write a word 'game', meaning the animals hunted, I could perhaps write 'game4', meaning, the 4th meaning of the word 'game'. It _would_ be so, if the only dictionary in the world was the Merriam-Webster's online dictionary, which indeed, lists it as fourth meaning of the noun. Other dictionaries list it as 9th, 11th or other meaning of the word.

Anyhow, let's say every dictionary lists the meaning as number 4, or we use a certain dictionary and put a note on each of our own texts, explaining what dictionary we use.

Having all words (actually, meanings) identified by numbers makes a text more precise and understandable, but the numbers obstruct reading.

The idea is to assign different colors to the homonyms (as opposed to assigning different numbers) in order to identify the meanings.

Inyuki, Sep 26 2007

Merriam Webster's online dictionary http://www.m-w.com/...=Dictionary&va=game
[Inyuki, Sep 26 2007]

Compact Oxford English Dictionary http://www.askoxfor..._oed/game_1?view=uk
[Inyuki, Sep 26 2007]

Synaesthesia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia
[imaginality, Sep 26 2007]

[link]






       Um, no thanks. Ambiguity is a very important element of English prose, even more so in poetry.
DrCurry, Sep 26 2007
  

       [DrCurry], sure, sometimes ambiguity is important. The words that the writer wants to leave ambiguous, could write in black.
Inyuki, Sep 26 2007
  

       Naw, leave it alone. We like our garbled rough and tumble language. And if your language has anything to say about it, we might take it out back to the alley and shanghai a few loaner words out of it. Capice?
Galbinus_Caeli, Sep 26 2007
  

       Game on!
baconbrain, Sep 26 2007
  

       The right solution is for the context of the sentence to provide clues to the word's meaning. If it doesn't, it's poorly written.
hippo, Sep 26 2007
  

       Change the words so that every one has a single meaning. Problem solved.
Loris, Sep 26 2007
  

       [hippo], come on, if something can be written in two words, why should one have to write it in three words just to get a simple idea accross?
Inyuki, Sep 26 2007
  

       No.
normzone, Sep 26 2007
  

       Inyuki: whether you're talking about technical or everyday English, there is almost always an unambiguous and brief way to word things. If the text is wordy and ambiguous, it is due either to the carelessness of the copy writer, or to deliberate ambiguiity or obfuscation on his/her part. No amount of coloring will get around any of those things.
DrCurry, Sep 26 2007
  

       I think it's time for some <green>blue- </green>skies thinking about language. But this proposal gives me <purple>black</purple> thoughts; in fact it makes me see <blue>red</ blue>. Only a <magenta>black</ magenta>guard would suggest something like this. In any case, as DrCurry points out, it is perfectly possible to write clearly in <yellow>black</yellow> and <pink>white</pink>, which makes your idea <cyan>red</cyan>undant.
MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 26 2007
  

       Come again?
DrCurry, Sep 26 2007
  

       I was pointing out that the names for colours can also have ambiguous names, and hence would themselves have to be coloured.
MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 26 2007
  

       I think it may be useful if not for fiction/poetry but in legal or technical documentation.   

       P.S. "Star Born" FTW!
xipetotec, Sep 26 2007
  

       This could prove annoying for people with grapheme-colour synaesthesia, who already see letters as coloured.
imaginality, Sep 26 2007
  

       [Normzone], did you mean yes?
zeno, Sep 28 2007
  

       wots rong with inglish (as he is spoke and ritten)
the dog's breakfast, Sep 28 2007
  

       sp. "she"
DrCurry, Oct 01 2007
  

       [zeno] Maybe yes, maybe no.
normzone, Oct 01 2007
  
      
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