Most words are the result of analysis and persuasion. There are many words for Perfection in the Bible. In English, we have one. I have heard that far north people have many words for ice, water, snow, that I have never heard of. I wonder what words they have for rain that might be similar to those that live in the tropics.
Life has to be analyzed to come up with these words. You watch the driving rain as opposed to a gentle rain and you distinguish between the two and come up with two different words for the same liquid dispensed in two different conditions, Stinging Rain or Refreshing Rain. Some languages are more refined than that and come up with subtle variations of the same word so that you don't have to have an additional word to come up with a qualified type of rain. I don’t know the names of all the types of chisels that Japanese craftsman use off hand, but I think that might be a good example. Here is a sample of what I’m talking about.
Some cultures take great care in the naming of their tools, their relationships, their possessions, their way of life and so on. They put a lot of effort into seeing, experiencing, tasting and seeing all that is around them.
On the flip side, they are more careful how they use those words in day to day life. With such precision in the discovery, they exhibit similar precision in the delivery. You can get this sense in the dentist office, the doctor asks for a mirror but is handed a probe instead by the assistant. Well, that is not good. It can get worse, she might ask for a small drill bit that rotates a certain way, and gets handed a large bit that rotates the other way.
We tend to like to be served by people that are precise in their language. They just do a better job. In the end, they use words to persuade us that it will turn out well, or better. The word for this is Rhetoric. The use of words to persuade people that things will get better or, in some cases get worse. There is often some action that must be taken as well.
We seem to be having trouble with rhetoric today. Far too many people use words to push people away from them. It is as if some people don’t want anyone around them within a certain distance unless they have been vetted and largely agree with or identify with them. Our political speech is a good example. Perhaps it is something that we feel more keenly as a major election approaches. But it doesn’t take long to see someone using political words to separate people out instead of bringing them together.
Why do so many want to separate themselves or distance themselves from others? What are they afraid of? What do those words do to us when we use them or hear them? We don’t even have to say the words in many cases, just use the color blue or red or purple.
I wonder what we want out of words. Why do we use them and what do we hope they will gain us? I suspect we don’t even know much of the time why we talk. What does Social Media really mean? How social is it, how does Media fit in to the equation? What words do we use to explain our lives? Why do we feel like we have to explain our lives? Is something missing? Are we trying to reach out for something? Do we find it, whatever it is we are looking for? Why do we read newspapers or consume internet videos? Are we completed by any of these sources? Are we depleted by any of these sources? What would happen to us if we had none of these sources for a week, a year or more?
My questions have to do with communication and the art of Rhetoric. Why do we communicate and how effective are we at it? Is it possible that the more we observe and think about our words that we will take more time to use the right ones, the most effective ones and the most edifying ones?