Words

This is in response to bambipizazzle's post from Tues. Feb 28
http://eng230.blogspot.com/2006/02/intro-to-lakoff.html

I too have been somewhat baffled by the the essense of the meaning of words during the reading of this book. I have often wondered why some words mean one things and not another. Being English and Journalism majors, we are constantly bombarded with tons of words and their meanings, but where do these meanings come from? In the opening of Chapter 2, Lakoff agrees with the statement that the power to define a language and what it means, is one of the most powerful things. She argues that these battles are "battles over the ability to define, and thus create, a large part of our reality." As humans, we technically hold the power to define words and make them part of society. During my History of the English Language class (this was a horrible experience that I never want to repeat) the one and only thing that I really got out of the class was that words changed and new were created as new people came into society, or a new word was needed for something. I think, in my limited knowledge of the subject, that words in the dictionary, and the meanings of words are just a reflection of the society at the time. We then accept these meanings and use them on a daily basis until they change again, and we must adjust to these changes. It does seem like a very complex process, but interesting.

I also wanted to comment on the two lines of dialogue on page 43 about the mother and crying baby that a lot of people have mentioned. When I read this (as a mother of a two year old) I was biased based on my gender, i was biased because I'm a mother. When I read the second line, I kind of laughed and said to myself that it must have been the hundredth time that day that the baby cried, and the mother was just hungry and figured the baby could wait a minute!!