‘When I use a word’, Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less.’ ‘The question is’, said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’ ‘The question is’, said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be Master - that’s all.’ Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass, 1871. See also Ontologies and taxonomies and About Darwin core