What do you REALLY mean?

I was once speaking with a wise old man, who was explaining to me that people see the world in unique ways. I thought that seemed pretty intuitive, and not being in the mood for small talk, I was content to let his observation hang in the air. Apparently, he didn't think it was as straightforward. He felt there was more to the story.

"You see the world through words, Lee" he said.

I asked him what he meant, and he told me that I tend to name and label everything; what I do, how I feel, what I perceive. It made sense to me, especially since I spend so much of my time telling stories. The problem with my world-view (word-view, even?), I soon realized, is that not everyone shares my perspective!



Close, but not exactly what I meant by seeing the world through words...


My tendency to look at things differently has made my work as an information security consultant very interesting (Don't panic. I'm not writing about security here!). Most security geeks tend to gravitate toward the technical and concrete, whereas I relish in gallivanting around in the neighborhood of prose, occasionally sojourning over into its less-manicured hinterlands of irony, juxtaposition, and metaphor. The result is that people either view me as incredibly anal (even smarmy) and aggressive in how I express myself, or they look at me with intrigue and confusion, and wonder what color the sky must be in my world.

While it may be challenging for me to tame my gift of language at work (often I feel like God blessed me with the words, now I'm waiting for him to bless me with a filter!), I have to admit that it is a lot of fun when I'm off the clock. I've lost track of how many times I've been walking around and either heard or read something that was so counterintuitive, so contradictory, or so downright idiotic, that I actually laughed out loud. It's those moments that I wish I could turn to another like-minded, word-loving, slightly egocentric kindred spirit, and ask them, "Did that really just happen?" and "Do you think that's what they REALLY meant?"

That's the great thing about words, they have meaning.

I've heard some scholars argue that the basis of comedy lies in creating an expectation (e.g., the set-up) then contradicting that set-up in a way that the audience was not expecting (the pay-off or punch line). Those expectations usually rely on language, and it makes it hard for me to imagine a world without language. Without words, we would probably have much fewer occasions in which to laugh.

Yet, sometimes I feel that people who miss these wonderfully funny moments (the ones where people want to express themselves, and try very hard to do so, but just slightly miss the mark) might as well be living in a world without words. This is the dark side of this linguistic phenominon: when people believe that words devoid of meaning are normal, language slowly dies. It shouldn't be this way. Words are meant to have meaning.

I'm reminded of people who always listen to pop music, but never pay attention to the lyrics. It sounds good, so who cares what it means? That same logic could hold true for language and communication in general, but more often than not, it leads to miscommunication. Sometimes miscommunication can be very amusing (espectially when I'm not the victim), and sometimes it is saddening. Either way, I have decided that it's worth sharing, and that is the reason why this blog exists.

I hope you enjoy reading this blog, and I hope it motivates you to say what you mean!

-Lee
Your Friendly Neighborhood Bitter Grammarian