Is this a "Father" from Transactional Analysis or something? Anyway, to continue ...
I would have bet my very life that he wanted a dinner fork.
If places at the dinner table were already set, so that he already a dinner fork, why would he be asking for a dinner fork?
Ditto if he is about to serve: if he asks for a fork then, it's for a serving fork.
After you've practised helping to lay the table, after being taught to do so, seeing people at the table daily, you may understand (when you look at it) what's there, what's missing, and what's expected.
See also shared (or 'joint') attention which is part of 'early development'.
But for me, there was never any doubt.
You assumed (wrongly) that you understood?
So, when we read words, we understand them in the way we are accustomed
I guess many users on this site are multi-lingual (not anglophone). You have "no comprende" as a handle, but I don't see why you'd think there's a one-to-one mapping between words and meaning.
Naturally you do understand something, automatically (parsing language is part of your brain's "firmware"); but it may be better to assume that understanding is provisional.
There isn't (a single meaning) even in English. If I said even the most mundane phrase, "go to the store", that might mean (in certain specialized contexts) to go to the private storage (e.g. "larder"), the commercial store (e.g. "shop"), the military store (e.g. "PX or armoury"), a web site (e.g. Amazon.com), or possibly some data store.
You mentioned "Imaginary Icebergs" yesterday which might be figurative poetry. I try to be more of a technical writer (e.g. of user manuals) than a literary author (e.g. of fiction).
Anyway if you're trying to learn something new then you ought to be open to (even looking for) new meaning (and if you're not trying to learn something new, and about Buddhism, I ask myself why you're posting a question).
For the field of Buddhism, which has lots of specific terminology, perhaps we need something similar when establishing what a question is about?
I think that many questions I ask are about specific terminology, or use specific terminology, whether in English like ...
- What is "rebirth"?
- What is "deathless"?
... or in Pali (which I understand to be a language, some of words of which Buddhists have tried to use in a specific way), like,
- What is "effluent (Āsava)"
- What is "identity-view (sakkāya-diṭṭhi)
Skeptics.SE requires some very definite research and references to establish the validity and content of every single question.
Well that may be a good idea.
Today for example I read an English translation of a sutta which mentioned "liberation".
I found another translation of that sutta and it said "release".
I looked at the Pali version of the sutta and it said "something-vimutti".
So I learned that vimutti is a word.
Look that up in a Glossary and it's given as "deliverance".
IMO it's not a very famous word (I don't know why but nirvana/nibanna is more famous, isn't it?).
Still perhaps it's an important word.
I can search for that word (e.g. using Google, and/or on Access to Insight).
I can search for it on this web site.
If I still don't understand it or have a question about it, then I can (and might) ask about it on the site.
Having done that "definite research" I might have formed a specific, better, understandable question.
Furthermore I can give a reference (i.e. to a specific word like vimutti, to a sutta which uses it, or to an article which explains it and that I still don't fully understand).
Doing that might still be hit-and-miss, but it's making an effort.
(Generally I dislike re-reading my questions but I like people reading people's answers to them ... I find my questions are pénible so I try not to inflict them on people often, but the answers are treasure).
Another type of question (which some people like and might prefer that you ask) is when you try to practice Buddhism, and then have a question about the practice.
More like the StackOverflow kind of site, which is less about theory, but where you ask practical problems, solving problems in practice.