Thank you John and Brian. What you say makes sense.
You lead or live a (blank) life.
You lead or live a life of (blank).
All other contexts - live not lead.
So lead to say that someone lives a particular kind of life (charmed life, life of crime, etc).
But can you use lead to *imply* that someone lives a particular kind of life without stating what that kind is?
Like, "I regret the life I led back then."
A way of saying, "I regret THE KIND of life I led back then," (presumably a wayward kind).
I long for a life I've never led. (implication is a kind of life)
This life I lead won't get me nowhere. (kind of life)
Can you use lead to imply a kind of life or only when a kind of life is explicitly stated?
I feel like it's precisely this nuance of lead that sometimes makes it better than live.
When you talk about leading a kind of life I feel like it implies agency, implies you could live differently, and implies a value judgement. Whereas live is more neutral in these regards. Or am I out to lunch?
You wouldn't describe a cat as leading a comfortable life but you might say it lived one, because we don't think of cats as agents. Or am I wrong?
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