how rule-like is meaning? Let's play a game. Come up with a rule of meaning and then let's see if we can come up with counterexamples. Inspired by a recent claim by ppl I admire, I'll start:

"it is reasonable to assume that any adult human ...can fairly easily process that if X is more Y than Z, then in general Z is less Y than X irrespective of the specific meanings of X, Y, and Z"

but...

Chris is more clever than wise
?? Wise is less clever than Chris

or

Chris is more happy than Keisha (right now),
Keisha is generally more happy than Chris,
does it follow that: Keisha is less happy than Chris. ?

All X are Y, x is an X, then X is Y:

All men are mortal
Superman is a man
then, Superman is mortal ?

If you're a speaker of a natural language, you can play!(if you're an analytic philosopher, you might want to play your own game)