intro to lakoff

Wow, so it's taken me awhile to post, apologies!

I really enjoyed the introduction & chapter one. Although the selection was 41 pages, similar to Ramage length, it was enjoyable and I was able to connect with what she was saying and she described definitions which helped as well, especially with terms such as performative utterances and transformational syntacticians.

In the introduction I liked how she stated, "at one time many of us thought the responsibility for meaning (in Western culture at least) lay with the producer: the speaker/writer produced the meaning; the hearer/reader might or might not perceive the speaker's meaning correctly." This is so true. When a professor speaks, students must write down what he/she says, will be tested on what is being taught by this individual. The professor is throwing out facts, truths held by his/her beliefs, and the student must accept those beliefs (even if only for the test or paper or assignment) in order to do well in that course.

In class, the topic of apologies was heavily dissected, so I will not touch upon that topic, since I am writing this late and expressed my thoughts, and have had my thoughts expressed by other students in the class already.
So, moving on.
Another quote I enjoyed was "..who gets to decide who can make the language, choose words, assign meanings, mediate between the real-world referent and the concept via language." I have often wondered this. I cannot think of few other jobs or accomplishments that can boost one's entire self more than being the one who decides which words to put in the dictionary, assign meanings for the words chosen; it completely baffles my mind. So much honor and prestige is held to that task. How does one even qualify? Is there a test, how do you choose people over other people? How can the opinions of a select few, or even a single person matter? Are they even the right opinions? This is such a baffling subject! I really do wonder how our society goes about the selection process. I wonder how extensive the interview is. I wonder what credentials one must posess. This is a topic one can ponder for a lifetime; very exciting to see that she brought it up!