Fuller's misguided foray into the philosophy of language, ironically, detracted from rather than supported his highly valuable central point. The war memorial made out of a functioning military truck really was a vehicle, just as the tired businessman really was sleeping in the station, and just as the sheriff in Kirby really did obstruct the delivery of mail. What these and countless other examples, both real and hypothetical, show is that the application of the literal language of a rule will now and then produce an outcome that is absurd, ridiculous, or at least at odds with the principal purpose lying behind the rule.

Unknown, Frederick Schauer - Thinkin…, loc. 284