Yes I am arguing semantics.

"You're arguing semantics", something said to me in a very authoritative and unfriendly tone of voice.

I was 19 years old, and going college.  I didn't know what semantics were, and I asked.

The answer: "What you're doing right now."

That didn't help at all, and it ruined my line of thought.  I still didn't agree, but didn't know what I was doing wrong in the discussion.

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Semantics, is the agreement of the meanings of words and phrases, and although somebody seem to think arguing semantics, is trivial or wrong, it is very important.

If two people are ever going to discuss anything they, better agree on semantics.  If those same two people, don't agree on semantics, or don't know that they disagree on semantics, misunderstands, hurt feelings, and anger will result.

Have you ever had a discussion with somebody, only to realize you were both saying the same thing, in different ways but didn't know it.  It's because you didn't agree on the semantics.

Language and communication, hinges on agreed semantics.  If I think that the wet stuff that is coming from the sky is called snow, but somebody else thinks it's called rain, our resulting conversation about it, will be confusing to both of us.  And conversely, if I think that a car is anything that has four wheels and drives, but somebody else thinks a car must be a sedan, than we will be talking about two different things when we talk about cars.  The problem is, if we don't agree not the semantics before hand, both of us, will be confused.  Arguments can result in angered upon semantics.  Hurt feelings, broken friendship and resentments can result from arguments.

If you took it further, and nobody ever agreed on semantics, nobody would understand what anybody was saying.  It would be like everybody speaking a separate language.  Understanding each other depends on us all having the same understanding of the meanings of words and phrases.  If for instance, I say "Let's watch TV", but somebody else interprets that as "Let's go swimming", somebodies going to look awfully silly, coming out of the bathroom in a bathing suit.

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Back to that person in college.  Essentially, with his authoritative and unfriendly tone, he either didn't understand what semantics were himself, or he was trying to confuse me, because he didn't have an answer to what I was trying to say.

And best response to the statement "You're arguing semantics.", is "You bet I am."