Canonical for Dummies

Alright, so the word "canonical" is actually kind of a fancy way of saying something is considered to be standard or authoritative. Imagine it like this - if you've got a big book of rules or guidelines, the "canonical" ones would be the ones that everyone looks to as the most important and reliable. It's kind of like a stamp of approval, saying "yep, this is the real deal."

Now, sometimes "canonical" can also refer to something that's related to a specific religious or literary tradition. It's like saying it's a classic or an original, something that's been around for a long time and is really important in that particular context.

So when you hear someone talking about something being "canonical," they're basically saying that it's the real deal, the standard everyone looks to, or something really important in a certain tradition. It's like the gold standard of whatever it's referring to.