‘The meaning of “offensive” is not found solely in the dictionary but in human life: to give its meaning would be to describe not just the rules of etiquette and offence, but the social life of human animals, how hierarchy is achieved and sustained, how relationships are built and sundered.’ Mary too is weaving in lessons from Wittgenstein: ‘Language has to be rooted in the complexities of real life, not imposed on it from outside as a calculus derived from axioms.’
