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A student of English approached her professor. “I’ve been studying for three years. I think I have a handle on the vocabulary.”
“Excellent,” said the professor. “Then you know what ‘set’ means.”
“Of course. To put something down.”
“Also: a group of things. A television device. The hardening of concrete. A theatrical stage. A mathematical collection. The way someone’s jaw looks when they’re angry. A tennis unit. A badger’s home. To adjust a clock. To fix a broken bone. To arrange a table. To create an exam. To go below the horizon—”
“Okay, I get it,” said the student.
“I was only at number fourteen,” said the professor. “The Oxford English Dictionary lists over four hundred and thirty distinct meanings. ‘Set’ has the longest entry of any word in the English language. It takes up more than sixty thousand words just to explain this one word.”
The student sat down. “So when someone says ‘set,’ how do I know which one they mean?”
“You don’t,” said the professor. “You set your mind to it, set aside your expectations, and accept that you have set out on a journey with no set destination.”
“You just used ‘set’ four times with four different meanings.”
“I set that up on purpose. You may set your grade expectations accordingly.”
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