But we know of what we're talking, don't we?

What do you mean we, keemosabe?

Therein lies the problem. A general term means we aren't saying anything specific about any specific thing. I love 'em. Use 'em allah time. However, I'm aware it's kinda like saying "He's got an old car" to me, satin or wwh, or saying it to a recent high school graduate. Without some specific form of reference the high school graduate probably immediately thinks "it breaks down often and is probably a bit rusty" whereas *we'd probably ask (or be wondering) what decade it was from. Being general may be sufficient, neccesary or even desireable to keep the long story short but, in the case of the word 'Classical' (as I've said before) it was pre-facto used specifically, just as you using the word 'Baroque' to describe something specific will futher the process of that person's "sense of" understanding why you call it 'Baroque'.

But what a boorish snob I would be to educate a casual acquaintance who simply wanted to know, "Do you really like classical music like Bach's and Beethoven's?"

So your answer would be "Yes/No" -vs- "what do you mean by 'like Bach's or Beethoven's'"? [Groucho-e]

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Wham, bam, thank you max.