I would never have known that even 52 years ago when learning languages at school, but the concept of separating labels from their referents has fascinated me since reading a science fiction story actually titled "Labels and Referents" or something like that. (For example it means that if one convinces the world that the colour red should really be called "black" then the label is changed without altering the referent, and red becomes black.)
It's odd how a flippant and provocative comment of mine has turned into a discussion far more interesting than Linux.
