second verse, same as the first

[uwvax!jon]

ALRIGHT! Let's get hot and heavy into argumentum ad hominem.
Pablo Alliende thinks I am a computer troll who thinks all words
have 32 bits, and I think that anyone named Alliende is intrinsically
incapable of accurately judging questions on the English language.
(that was facetious)

Seriously, I think the argument can be summed up as follows:

Mr. Alliende claims that any unit of speech or writing that
conveys meaning is a word. (perhaps he would narrow this a bit,
but you get the drift.)

I claim that a word must conform to convention, at least if
it's to be considered a word in a particular language. "Ov" does not
conform to English convention.
The dictionary definition only addresses the question of "what is a word"
not "what is 'a word in a language.'" The distinction is important.

And furthermore, eggs should always be opened at the big end.

Jon Mauney