Talk:Deferred reference

This article is in dire need of expansion. I still hardly have an idea of what "deferred reference" is, even with the examples. - furrykef (Talk at me) 16:34, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

I agree about the need for expansion. If you just want to understand the phenomenon, (Nunberg 1995) is an excellent introduction. Unfortunately, it is not available on-line. The basic idea is that one takes a phrase such as "the ham sandwich", which in isolation means no more than it says, and use it to refer to a thing that is related to it but doesn't share any of its meaning, such as "person who ordered the ham sandwich". There is more discussion and several more examples in the linked paper by Ward (though I caution you to read it with a critical eye). — Kaustuv Chaudhuri 01:51, 12 March 2007 (UTC)