And for every thought there are a million ways to say it incorrectly. A note on writers block, it does make for some interesting thinking. I mean, what better act of imagination than trying to pull something out the air and into the world? Your mind can effortlessly drift around countless ideas, from the mundane thoughts on the day to the daunting task of trying to qualify that je ne sais quoi and present it to the world. I mean, it's only something too deep for words.
Too deep for words. It has occured to me the fundamental problem of language is that we artificially created it in order to do things accomplished, not say what we mean. When one thinks of a purple elephant (pause, pause, pause) I think I can say that you did not think of the words 'paisly elephant' -- you imagined an oddly patterned pachaderm. Now try to think of happy. Try again. It's hard to picture hmmm? Perhaps some memories which made you happy popped into your head. Could have been someone with a smile on their face. Either way, I'm pretty sure you couldn't get a picture of "Happy".
Yet "Happy" along with other terms of feeling get bandied about on TV like they are going out of style. And I make the call to everyone that perhaps we should take a moment to consider something before doing it again. As I mentioned before, language is by its nature descriptive; I would argue that it can only describle things we can see: it breaks down unuseably when attempting things that I call 'Inner senses'. Inner senses are completely opaque to all but oneself, yet these are the things that we so badly need to communicate.
We do have a method, and that is why we have the arts. Being a believable actor, a talented musician, a gifted painter: all of these in a lay sense entail being able to convey feeling to others: taking a slice of that ineffable now and describing it perfectly. All with the same language, all with the same words. Yet this ability is often lost in medias res: your letter is received not as an apology but a cheap dig, your clever comment is misinterpreterd (ever have the "oh now I get it" moment after a conversation) and so on.
So in the end, I envision a spectrum of language. The spectrum is based on symbolism and ranges from cut, dry and defined (philosophy, academic writing) to highly figurative (poetry, lyrics) with a huge grey area in the middle. On this view, the trouble with communication between say, lovers or friends, arises when they are assuming different areas in the field. Said otherwise, aside from the connnotated facets of word meaning (how one speaks), a line like "Don't fall through the stars" can either be a non sequitor, or perhaps a brilliant lyrical line (go Mike Doughty!). It can be either, but not both, at least not until retrospect.
This is a tough case to hash out because most people have no care to say what they mean: the typical descriptive (object dependant) way of communique is fine. But try it sometime. Use words in obscure meanings, a new way, make it fit the inner senses. Understand the linguistic power of "I look to like if looking liking move," really think about it. I've recently come to understand the power of an errant word (just happened one day while watching the snowfall with a wicked hangover). I mean, ladies, would you prefer "hey, I like you" or would you prefer "I closed my eyes, and the thought of you made the troubles of my day just fall away" (or maybe both, or neither, and only if the situation warranted of course: I would never recommend just kinda throwing that around to everyone). Although it's kinda hand-wavey, I really want to bring to light the notion of the importance of cutivating the care of our language that it deserves. Our langauge is enourmous: estimates put it between 500,000 in the Oxford English Dictionary (1,000,000 including scientific words), and the typical college graduate's vocabulary is about 60,000 active words: we have the capacity, lets use it.
P.S. Since Tiki Barber is the man (I can't stress this enough) I'm gonna passs the keyboard off to Michael Eisen: Barber, the first Giants running back with multiple Pro Bowl appearances since Rodney Hampton in 1992 and '93, is having an extraordinary season. His team-record 220-yard outing last week against Kansas City increased his season total to 1,577 yards, another franchise standard that he can add to in the season's final two games. It was his fifth consecutive 100-yard game, another record. Barber is second in the NFL in rushing yards. He also has 421 receiving yards, which gives him 1,998 yards from scrimmage, 258 yards more than runner-up Shaun Alexander of Seattle. Barber needs 99 yards to break the Giants single-season record he set last year and he is on the verge of being the first player to lead the NFL in yards from scrimmage in back-to-back seasons since the Chiefs' Priest Holmes in 2001 and '02. This year, Barber has twice been selected as NFC Offensive Player of the Week, including this week. Damn right.
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