One of the characters in the book of short stories which I am reading was puzzled by the way we use 'love' to describe so many different feelings and relationships. In his civilisation, there are different words for the range of emotions we encompass in that little word.

Some would think that an improvement. I'm not sure that I do.

In emotions particularly, there is much to be said for a little ambiguity, a certain looseness of definition. When I tell a friend I love her, I like the roominess of that word; I’d rather not pin my feelings down.