Computer, Referee

Both words name a role and never named a substance — 'computer' was a job people held, and 'referee' means, literally, the one to whom a matter is referred. Granting that fully has a cost the slogan hides: taken without limit, everything computes and the word distinguishes nothing, which Putnam and Searle proved rather than suggested. What bounds a role word is the practice that confers it. There is no referee without a game — and that is why a role can be vacant rather than absent.