In the neighborhood where I live, there are several delightful, century-old streets that lead, well, nowhere.  Some lanes, adorned with grand homes, are prefaced with an emphatic, “Dead End.” Others, seemingly reflecting their genteel occupants, declare more diplomatically that there is “No Outlet.” Can we agree that both signs mean the same thing?  Namely, that there is no through  exit from the street.

Indeed, we often use different words to say the same thing, don’t we?  The choice of which words we use says more about us than we might imagine. And that choice of words often carries more weight than the mere words themselves.