Sgt. Pepper, 1/22

"Dictionaries are like watches; the worst is better than none, and the best cannot be expected to go quite true." -Samuel Johnson

I loved the discussion we had on language and symbols last Tuesday. It's crazy to think that our English language was once arbitrarily developed by a group of men with their own ideas, but has come to mean so much, and such different things, to so many people. I was also taken aback thinking about the idea that all symbols are just as arbitrary as words are. And the fact that mankind has the capacity not only to adapt to these meaningless grunts, but to make them their own.

This brings me to the quote I began this blog with by Samuel Johnson. I think what he means by this is that yeah, technically there is a textbook definition to every word in every language, but that words have come to mean so much more than their textbook definition, and have even taken on a different meaning to each person. We are taught how to form sentences in the basic subject and predicate manner, but as we learn more about the language, as our vocabulary grows, and as our world experience grows, we adopt our own ways of saying things, and can use words to describe our own personal feelings.

I also liked the post where someone talked about making up his or her own language as a child. I did the same thing as a child, and to this day, am fascinated by the development of language. As our world evolves with the ideas of postmodernism, so develops our language.