Powerful Quote on Scientific Language by John Locke

When researching sources for an upcoming article on the M Language, I came across the following quote:

"Vague and insignificant forms of speech, and abuse of language, have so long passed for mysteries of science; and hard or misapplied words with little or no meaning have, by prescription, such a right to be mistaken for deep learning and height of speculation, that it will not be easy to persuade either those who speak or those who hear them, that they are but the covers of ignorance and hindrance of true knowledge."

-- John Locke

From:

Hayakawa, S.I., 1964. The Language in Thought and Action. 4th Ed. Hardcourt Brace Jananvich, Inc.

This is perhaps the primary reason for the slow progress of the Semantic Web, namely the lack of precision for English.