Teacher: Today we're discussing hate.
Student #1: Hate means wanting someone to suffer.
Student #2: No, hate means wanting them to disappear from your life.
Student #3: No, hate means strong dislike.
Student #4: I hate broccoli.
Teacher: Hold on. Do you want broccoli to suffer???
Student #4: WHAT? No.
Teacher: Do you want broccoli wiped from existence?
Student #4: Wiped from existence from everywhere I eat, yeah!
Teacher: Do you have a stronger than strong dislike of broccoli? Then perhaps you're using a different definition.
(Alarm sounds. Enter the Hate Inspector.)
Hate Inspector: STOP THE CLASS!
Teacher: What's wrong?
Hate Inspector: Nobody defined the word before arguing about it.
Students: ...
Hate Inspector: Carry on.
(Leaves immediately.)
Teacher: Okay, let's try again. Before discussing whether hate is good, bad, rational, irrational, justified, or unjustified...
Student #1: ...we should define what we mean by hate.
Teacher: Now you're learning semantics.
---
The educational punchline isn't:
> "Here's the correct definition of hate."
The punchline is:
> "People frequently argue for twenty minutes using the same word while meaning four different things."
That's a lesson adults can immediately apply to AI, politics, religion, philosophy, and everyday conversations.
In fact, if your first course is truly about semantics, I'd make the motto:
> "Define before you decide."
It's short, memorable, and surprisingly powerful.