Grice's "vice" (Ways of Words, p. 291)

If Grice became famous for his example,

"He was caught in the grip of a vice" in "Logic and Conversation" (WoW:ii) he returns to that lexeme ('vice') on p. 291 -- and he says something, or wonders about something which is SO obvious to me! having checked the etymology, granted!

Grice is concerned about 'mean' -- the lexeme. Surely by Modified Occam's razor, we shouldn't multiply the senses of 'mean' beyond necessity. This is NOT T. Wharton's reference to 'mean' as in 'mean Mr. Mustard", or 'mean' as from Latin 'medianus'. It's 'mean' as in "Spots mean measles" and "'Spot' means spot".

-----

Grice writes:

"It this double USE of the word

'mean' just like the double use

of the word 'vice' to refer sometimes

to something approximating to a sin

and sometimes to a certain sort of

instrument used by carpenters?"

This is rhetorical.

But he adds, too guardedly for my taste:

"One is PRETTY much inclined"

---- I am SO inclined that I fall --

"in the latter case ['vice'] to say that

there are TWO words"

as any American would testify, since they spell it 'vyse'.

"which are pronounced and

written the same"

---- not if you are an American. The 'written' I mean.

In many respects, Noah Webster was a genius. There are ways of writing American English which are superior to the British ways. "Vyse" is an American geniality.

On the other hand, I don't think someone can EVER be, in real-life,

confused as to whether someone meant either 'a sort

of instrument used by a carpenter' and 'something

approximating a sin'.

Surely, "caught in the grip of a vyse" seems so convoluted that perhaps Grice heard it from Max Miller or some other 'music-hall' stand up comedian. They rely a lot on puns, those!