alt Hacker NewsThe statement takes meaning-as-use as a given, sure, but I think the point of the statement is that people are arguing over an uninteresting question / taking meaningless positions about a meaningless issue, rather than "hey, words are moves in a language game!". I referenced two EWDs, which provide the original statements in context (though I can't find the widely-quoted wording anywhere: I thought I remembered it being in EWD1035, but apparently not). If you think my understanding of what Dijkstra meant was wrong, could you explain further, please?
I take your point that this seems to be the implication of what Dijkstra was getting at. But the term itself is not evocative for that reason. It resonates because people clearly don't think it is a meaningful question as to whether or not submarines swim because the term swim itself implies the categorisation I mentioned in my post above.
I do not know whether Dijkstra understood this distinction and was using it to disingenuously imply that the limitation was on the target and not the categorisation. He may have just felt it resonate with himself and failed to explore why.
Dijkstra immediately before using the term throws shade on serious thinkers engaging in a topic seriously. He personally seemed to want to dismiss the issue out of hand. As such I don't think there is any real value in his opinion on the matter. A recognition of how people did take it seriously and a considered rebuttal would be worthwhile. Declaring it uninteresting and failing to engage in the arguments is simply opting out of the debate.