Growing a Language

Most of the time, I do not read my talks; I plan the main points and then speak off the top of my head. For this talk, I need to stick to a text, and for good cause. Please bear with me. I think you know what a man is. A woman is more or less like a man, but not of the same sex. (This may seem like a strange thing for me to start with, but soon you will see why.) Next, I shall say that a person is a woman or a man (young or old). To keep things short, when I say “he” I mean “he or she,” and when I say “his” I mean “his or her.” A machine is a thing that can do a task with no help, or not much help, from a person. (As a rule, we can speak of two or more of a thing if we add an “s” or “z” sound to the end of a word that names it.)