milky  +  334070 Wed, 28 Feb 07 08:53 AM The expression ready for Freddy always meant "prepared for (almost) anything" where I grew up. Could that imply that the expression no longer means the same, has another meaning, or the speaker has no information about the present meaning of the expression. Or, could it mean that the speaker knows that word still means the same? And what would be the difference in meaning between these? The expression ready for Freddy always meant "prepared for (almost) anything" where I grew up. The expression ready for Freddy has always meant "prepared for (almost) anything" where I grew up. milky Joined on Thu, Jan 15 2004 Senior Member 3,149 Hume said that if we had perfect or complete descriptive knowledge of reality, we could not, by reasoning, derive a single valid "ought".

	nona the brit  +  334098 Wed, 28 Feb 07 11:39 AM The speaker said 'where I grew up' not 'when I grew up'. So they are talking about its meaning at that geographical location rather than the time period. This could imply that it had/has a different meaning elsewhere. nona the brit Joined on Wed, Sep 22 2004 England Veteran Member 11,713 The name says it all.

	milky  +  334130 Wed, 28 Feb 07 01:36 PM <So they are talking about its meaning at that geographical location rather than the time period.> So for you, "always meant" is not past time reference there, right? milky

	milky  +  334133 Wed, 28 Feb 07 01:38 PM <The speaker said 'where I grew up' not 'when I grew up'. > Wouldn't one use "when I was growing up" and not "when I grew up" if followed by "always meant"? milky

	CalifJim  +  334292 Wed, 28 Feb 07 08:48 PM And what would be the difference in meaning between these? [1.]  The expression ready for Freddy always meant "prepared for (almost) anything" where I grew up. [2.]  The expression ready for Freddy has always meant "prepared for (almost) anything" where I grew up. To me the difference is: 1.  The expression had that meaning at some time in the past.  No information about its current meaning is given.  It may still have that meaning; it may have a new meaning; people may have stopped using it altogether. 2.  The expression had that meaning at some time in the past.  It continues to have that meaning to this day. CJ CalifJim Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004 California Veteran Member 22,389 "There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche