He may be answered as follows: When does this equality or preference arise? It must be either in the assignment of meanings or in usage. As for its being in the assignment of meanings, even if that were true, nothing would accompany it, for what matters is the expression’s indication of a meaning. This occurs only through its use to convey that meaning, not merely through some prior assignment. How, then, can this hold when no evidence has established the supposition of an assignment distinct from usage?

Moreover, the assignment of the expression to each of the two meanings must be either without qualification or with qualification. The former is impossible unless there are two assigners. In that case, if the speaker is known to speak only according to his own assignment, which constitutes his language and customary usage, the expression admits only that meaning. If, however, he speaks according to one assignment at one time and the other at another, this falls under the second category: the expression is assigned to one of the meanings only with a qualification specifying it. With that qualification, it does not indicate any other meaning. Thus, there remains no situation in which an expression in use