OK. Take the word "lifestyle." Certainly not obscure. You probably hear or read it at least once a day. More frequently than that if your evening fare is saturated with TV sitcoms or if you read the gossip columns.

Anyway, according to Webster’s, "lifestyle" is "the typical way of life of an individual, group, or culture."

Now I’m going to ask you to do an experiment. Eavesdrop on your noggin while you slowly say aloud, "A lifestyle is the typical way of life of an individual, group, or culture." I submit to you that as soon as you finish the sentence you’ll hear an undulating, grinding sound coming from the hollow of your cranium as the gears of your brain labor away trying to make sense of what it just heard.

Want to know why? OK.

First, nothing is typical. One person’s typical is another person’s unique.

Second, the phrase "way of life" is itself without meaning. If you don’t believe that, try explaining to yourself what it means. But be prepared to hear that undulating, grinding sound again.

Third, given that no two people are the same, there can be no such a thing as a group lifestyle no matter what meaning you give to the word "lifestyle."

And fourth, if we substitute Webster’s definition of the word "culture" for the word itself in the definition of "lifestyle," we get "the typical way of life of an individual, group, or of the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group."

Beam me up, Scotty. The inmates have taken over the asylum.

Think about it.