Full Idea
Those who dislike universals have thought that they could be merely words; the trouble with this view is that a word itself is a universal.
Gist of Idea
Universals can't just be words, because words themselves are universals
Source
Bertrand Russell (My Philosophical Development [1959], Ch.14)
Book Reference
Russell,Bertrand: 'My Philosophical Development' [Routledge 1993], p.128
A Reaction
Russell gradually lost his faith in most things, but never in universals. I find it unconvincing that we might dismiss nominalism so easily. I'm not sure why the application of the word 'cat' could not just be conventional.