As far as people's everyday experiences are concerned,
the informal ideas are often perfectly adequate to interpret
and guide action. Fires do burn down to result in a small
pile of ash-a widely used way of getting rid of unwanted
rubbish. If you want to keep a piano moving across the
floor you do need to keep up a constant push. It is not surprising
that ideas that are used and found useful are then
;epres&ted in everyday language. Phrases such as being
"as light as air" or something being "completely burned
up" both reflect and give further support to underlying informal
ideas. We argue, therefore, that informal ideas are
not simply personal views of the world, but reflect a
shared view represented by a shared language. This shared
view constitutes a socially constructed "commonsense"
way of describing and explaining the world.