WhyWuh
When someone asks me "could" a card mean something, by answer is always yes. Tarot is very intuition based and if in a reading you FELT a certain card means something (even if it never meant that before for you) then that is what it means. It's a lot about tuning into that. I would never say that a card could not mean something. Its about tuning in to that.
I find when you feel something to go with your first reaction/impulse/feeling/instinct. If you think about it, it messes things up. Thought turns off intuition. There is no way to logically know or decide which if 2 or more meanings is the right one. You have to trust what you felt. Sounds like you're in your mind trying to think out logically which alternative is right. Can't be done. You have to stop thinking and feel which feels right.
But that said...
I don't know it this will help, but all I can do is tell you what it means to me in the way I read. The cards have different nuances and ways to talking for each reader.
The 3 of Swords (for me in the way I read) talks about having kind, nurturing protective thoughts about someone. Thinking of them in this way, thinking of what you can do to help them in these ways. It could even potentially talk about being protective of your own thoughts, maybe not willing to let anyone challenge them or an unwillingness to consider any other viewpoints. That is what the card is for me personally. Of course the image will have a lot to say too for me in the message.
Babs
Thank you so much. I love your insights. I know that you read cards very differently (and you told me this more than once) but your viewpoint is always like a fresh air. It could be that this person will try to protect themselves from me and that it could be that i will be hurting too. There is signs that this person had bad past and it just needs to be healed.