Book starts with…..
Semantic has become a term of dismissal. That’s just semantics…, I’m not go- ing to enter into a semantic argument with you…, if you want to get seman- tic about it…—you use the word today to suggest that the discussion is not worth your while. It’s as if semantic is taking on the meaning of pedantic, the excessive, inappropriate, and annoying attention to minor details, in Finland described (impolitely) as pilkunnussija or (politely) one who has intimate intercourse with commas.
In telling the story of epigenetics, you must embrace semantics while keeping your inner pedant firmly under control. Today, this rich and fasci- nating avenue of scientific enquiry has not only captured imaginations, it has also captured multiple meanings. Two people discussing epigenetics may think they are talking about the same concept but have completely different and even opposing views of what it means. Someone seeking to construct a hypothesis based on epigenetics can find scraps of evidence from the multi- ple
definitional buckets, building a structure that to the uncritical eye may look solid but lacks the compatible mortises and tenons for stability.
