I started writing my first blog post, got about halfway through, then realized some of you may not know what the fuck I’m talking about, because you don’t have a background in land usage. I decided to instead make my first post about words, word usage, and my opinions about language in general so that none of the readers are surprised or confused in later posts.
Language
Language is simply a set of symbols, whether visual, audible or tactile, used to convey a message from one consciousness to another. You know that, but I have to state it at the beginning here to get your consciousness into the same thought groove that mine’s in. Because it’s just symbols, which are made by people, any symbol can take the place of another to represent the same meaning, and, conversely, a symbol can be used to represent a meaning other than the one originally intended, as long as, in both cases, all parties involved agree on the meaning of the symbols and understand the message reasonably well. Language is fluid. This being the case, in future blog posts I will give MY definitions for words, the meaning that I’m trying to convey when using it. I don’t care if my definition isn’t perfectly consistent with the dictionary definition or the scientific definition. I’m trying to convey a message, which is hampered by the fact that I’m using only text to convey it. I can’t pinch you to convey a specific level of pain. I can gesture all I want, but you can’t see it and that part of the message will be lost. We have only text, so I want to make sure the text is being perceived as accurately as possible, otherwise what’s the point?
Nope
If language is comprised of symbols, and symbols are made by humans, and humans are inherently fallible, then language is inherently fallible. I can’t transplant an idea directly and perfectly from my mind into yours. It has to go through my stupid mouth first, then into your ears, or come from my fingers, be transported through the magic internet box, and picked up by your eyeballs. I can’t perfectly place my idea into the universe and you couldn’t perfectly receive it if I did, because humans aren’t perfect. With that in mind if I try to share something and you don’t quite get it please let me know so I can try to explain better. If you’re confused it’s probably not because you’re dumb (probably); it’s probably because our communication system is insufficient.
Power
Some people don’t like to hear some words. Like fuck. Or twat. Or moist. To some degree I can understand that, because those words have an association with some negative meaning for those people, and hearing it may bring undesired thoughts. However, letting a symbol, because that’s what words are, directly affect my mood and the course of my day is, for me, an undesired thought. Words are not inherently powerful. Words are symbols, created by humans, therefore any power they have is given to them by humans. From my experience, which is limited to only 27 years, the more often a word is used the less power it has. Everyone’s experienced this, when you say a word a thousand times and it starts to lose it’s meaning and just be a sound. That’s why I made sure to use “fuck” in the very first sentence; I’m trying to take away it’s perceived power. The FCC messed up when they made a list of words that can’t be said on t.v. and radio. They gave those words, which they deem “bad”, more power than they already had. I determine how much power a word has to me and those around me by how I let it affect my consciousness and how often I use it. One word I avoid using most of the time, for example, is Love. That’s a word that is already too simple and inadequate for the idea it is trying to express, and I don’t want it to lose any of the little power it has. My wife gets it daily, my mom and grandma get it when I see them, and my friends get it very occasionally. That’s it. I use fuck all the time, because it’s so common in society at this point it’s basically meaningless. If you really want to insult someone skip “Fuck you!” and try something more creative, with more power, such as “Break your teeth on a sack of marbles, you worm-sucking kitten puncher!”
Power part II
I recognize that, even if individual words only have the power that is assigned to them, words strung together to convey complex ideas can have vast power. If sentences and paragraphs had no power then language would be useless. I wasn’t trying to give myself license to be horribly offensive; just trying to convey the idea that if I use words like “shit” try not to give it too much power, because I’m sure as shit not.
Thanks for taking the time to receive this message,
Seth