January 05th, 2018

Knowing that I like thought provoking questions, this one was recently offered to me.  "If a window is painted over, is it still a window?"

​My immediate response was, yes of course it's still a window.  If my eyes are closed they are still my eyes.  The same goes if I am wearing sunglasses; you cannot see them, but they are still my eyes.

​The person who originally posed the query countered with an actual doggone dictionary definition.  Fighting me with fact!  Not Fair at all!  The dictionary says that a window is: " An opening in the wall or roof of a building or vehicle that is fitted with glass or other transparent material in a frame to admit light or air and allow people to see out."

Ratz.

​So I thought about it awhile.  If the curtains are drawn or the shutters are closed you cannot see out, but it's still a window.  If it is boarded up, you obviously cannot see through it but it is referred to as a "boarded up window".  A window that is painted  or nailed shut cannot be opened but it is still a window.  Some windows have frosted or etched glass so you cannot see out or in but they are still called windows.  What about windows with the glass removed whether by time or an errant baseball?  Still Windows!

​I stubbornly maintain that a window retains it windowness regardless of paint,  boards, shutters, drapery, etching or damaging hail. I am turning a blind eye to the definition.  Don't confuse me with facts I have made up my mind.  In my world, the only way a window stops being a window is if you remove it altogether and brick it up so that it is transformed into a wall OR if the wall is removed altogether.  Then it simply no longer exists.

​Who writes  these definitions?  Who is the one designated person who determines what everything means?  What are their credentials?  Who appointed them?

​The informal definition of the word "cool" in the dictionary is: "fashionably attractive or impressive".  Really?   If someone says that they saw a certain movie the other  night and enjoyed it and the response is "cool" are they suggesting that the speaker is fashionably attractive? or impressive?  

​I remain firmly convinced that a window does not lose it's inherent "windowness" by the mere introduction of paint, Mr. Webster be damned.

Clearly I have issues with authority. And I question everything!. But I do love a thought tickling question or idea. And clearly I'm still pondering this window thing.   So I offer it to you to ponder over the weekend, "is a window that has been painted over still a window?".  What do you think?  Let me know.

​And have a good weekend. Stay warm and stay safe!

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