It was in vain that Watt said, Pot, pot. Well, perhaps not quite in vain, but very nearly. For it was not a pot, the more he looked, the more he reflected, the more he felt sure of that, that it was not a pot at all. It resembled a pot, it was almost a pot, but it was not a pot of which one could say, Pot, pot, and be comforted. It was in vain that it answered, with unexceptionable adequacy, all the purposes, and performed all the offices, of a pot, it was not a pot.

Defining your terms, especially in the beginning of a discussion, establishes the intended meaning and sets boundaries for what you are attempting to communicate. … [Words and concepts] are the main vehicles through which we communicate our thoughts, feelings, and experiences. However, a mere string of words is inadequate for communicating these experiences in an intelligible way. We need to organize experience under general ideas so that the listener or reader can fully understand what we are trying to convey. Concepts perform that function. Concepts are general ideas that bring order and intelligibility to our experience.