YOUR MOTHER SHOULD HAVE SWALLOWED

Really grabs your attention, right? Well let me tell you, it may not always attract the attention you want. This phrase appears on the back of one of my t-shirts, and it has gotten me kicked out of malls, accosted by drunks at parties, and even earned me a stern talking to by some tool from admissions last semester. The point i'm trying to make is--and sit down for this one-- I agree with Lakoff's argument that the relationship between language and culture is not mutually exclusive. It made me sad too. I just really liked that quote in the beginning of the chapter from Thucydides. Its true that those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it, and as advanced as we as a culture think we are, there is just too much evidence that we aren't any better than we were. Like a sheep in wolf's clothing- while appearing to be more intelligent and effective, we are still just the static, simple and slow flock we once were. As the quote reads, "He who succeeded in his plot is clever,but he who had detected one is still shrewder... he who, when the opportunity offered and he saw his enemy off his guard, was the first to pluck courage, found his revenge sweeter because of the violated pledge than if he had openly attacked." On a completely unrelated topic, did you guys know Bill Gates' house controls its own individual room temerature based on the people who are in it?
Whether it's me getting woken up and kicked off a couch in the sub, or Bill Gates creating a monopoly, they are essentially caused by the arrangement and choice of specific words. There's no doubt that words carry certain aestheics with them, Case in point, if you dont mentally react differently to the words "tree" and "rape" -you are a sociopath- at least that's the way the pigs define it. If you still don't believe me, tell me if your reaction to my last sentence would have been any different if I had replaced the phrase, you are a sociopath, with you may very well resemble a sociopath. Or if I were to use the word law enforcement officials instead of pigs, would part of you love or hate that statement any more or less? --damn that was smooth-- What I'm saying with all of this is that words carry an exponentially growing amount of force in the world, and our daily routine that extends farther than yelling fire in a theater. That much of Lakoff's argument, I like, the whole fundamentalist Language =100% Culture tone that I got from the reading. I think Lakoff has some good points in this chapter, but she needs to realize that language is one of many tools that shape culture, not a pice of the mold where it's cast. Language is alive, and it changes and grows just like everything else, and aty any moment any individual can change the way they use it.