Thesauruses are a different matter - they are handy ways of finding words which have sort of similar meanings, but sort of similar also means sort of different. And those differences matter.

My basic point is that it's very important to hold on the principle that it is always right to try to understand anybody you are in conflict with, and that any notion that trying to understand such people and their actions is a kind of weakness is always to be resisted. And I don't think there's any disagreement about that between Wolfgang and me.