The OTHER Lakoff

I thought the first 85 pages of "The Language War" put an interesting perspective on language. Lakoff made me think about why certain words or phrases hold the meaning or value that they do compared to other words or phrases.
On page 40, I thought Lakoff's dicussion of The Jewish Holocaust tied into Luntz and (the first) Lakoff's idea of "framing." Lakoff wrote, "There is an analogous dispute about the use of the word 'Holocaust.' Must it refer only to the Nais' killing of six million Jews? Or can it be applied to other cases of mass murder or mass mistreatment of one group by another? Can AFrican Americans appropriate the term to refer to slavery? Does any group have the right to appropriate a word for themselves or their own experience?"
In the human experience, certain generic words become specific terms to frame specific experiences. These words become "loade" and hold immense meaning for millions of people.
I also thought it was interesting when Lakoff tells the two stories: "The baby cried. The mother picked it up." and "The baby cried. The mother ate a salami sandwich." The first story seems so normal that it isn't worth telling, but the second set of statements is considered so culturally abnormal, that we immediately wonder what is wrong with the mother.
I read that set of statements to a few of my residents, and they said that exact thing: What is wrong with that mother?!
See everyone in class today!
-Kim