I couldn't think of a fitting title for an imcomplete thought.

So rather than discuss anything specific about Lakoff, I would much rather take this moment to discuss my own feelings about this entire semantics thing.

It fascinates me. The more I learn about the English language (or simply language in general), the more I love/hate it. People can be torn apart--psychoanalyzed to their bare bones--simply by isolating the words they use.

Eggshell mines line every square inch of this battlefield, and if you don't watch your step, you might lose some limbs. Analysis of language is such a powerful device, it seems that by arguing the use of language, one can shut down another almost too easily.

I know I said I wasn't planning to discuss anything specifically Lakoff, but look at the entire thing about the apology.

Nine-million ways to apologize for something, and each letter of each word offers a window into a person's subconscious. Ugh... it's stressful to think about it.

The worst part, I feel as though I am slowly beginning to abuse the use of this tool as well. The more I learn, the more aware I become of its power. It is control and it is manipulation. It offers insight, and sometimes too much of it. It is the flux capacitor of the defense mechanism. It is a cloud.

And the irony of it? Without understanding it, one cannot protect himself from it. Yet, once one understands it, he is fully capable of succumbing to it. He now has the potential to use it against those still unaware, and seemingly--more often than not--will . Sounds like that symbiote thing from Spiderman. It grants one power, but almost too much. People lose control too easily. We're quite the glutton.

So rant I shall. I can go on forever and ever and an even longer time than that. But what good would it do? All that will come of it is a lot of stress. I can see from all sides. I can understand them. Hell, make me a good enough point, and I'll surely agree with you, only to find an even more convincing point sometime later on some opposite shore of the argument.

I guess what I'm saying is "I get this." I don't fully understand all of it--I'm just a sophomore in college, far from being an expert anything. Well, I'm an expert at being me. I guess I have that.