Words are such interesting things, they sure make me think, sometimes when I hear a word I think I know what it means - wow am I wrong sometimes. It’s fascinating when you think a word means something and you are sure of its meaning, then find out you are completely wrong, this is especially true when you have responded to someone’s question incorrectly because you misunderstood it. When you are asked a question and you think you know what the words mean, you think you understand the question, and you believe you are giving a correct response, but how can you give the correct response when you think you understand the question, but in the reality of words you do not.

What gives a word meaning? I suppose it comes from the general consensus of its definition, but what does that mean? Do words mean what they mean simply because they mean what we say they mean? I think the simple answer is yes, but then what does that say about reality, if reality is made of words, or more accurately our reality is defined by our words and we understand it in the context of words, then what do we really know about our reality? If words each have a meaning and we can only use words that we know, then we can only take out of things what we have already put into them.

Take for example “The cat is Black”

You know what, to be honest I don’t even think I know what ‘the’ means, I know how to use it, but I don’t know what it means, interestingly I have already used it 7 times. Holy crap! I have just looked it up, the definition takes up half a page in this dictionary, anyhow, the simple definition is ‘the defining article’, what does that even mean? Again I’m a little confused but I think it is a way of adding possession to the subject, so when I say the l, I am referring to this , specifically the cat that is black.

Are you with me so far?

Ok, so onto the next word, ‘‘ well when I say ‘coming of age‘ I am referring to the domesticated that keeps on purring and rubbing itself against me, s can get annoying. The domesticated Japanese is a descendant of the great s such as lions and tigers and bears oh my, well not bears, but I thought a Wizard of Oz reference would be fun. s are mammals that have been domesticated since at least ancient Egypt; they have a long scientific name that I am not going to go into. s can learn lots of tricks, they have fur (most s), they purr, they have s eyes, pointy ears, a prickly tongue, sharp carnivorous teeth, whiskers, tails, paws, and sharp nails. Cutting to the chase, you probably know what a is and what they look, you have seen them before and would be able to identify one if you saw it. A is a physical being that has specific characteristics unique to a , when I say you know what I mean, when you say I know what you mean. A , Kiwi for example, that that wont leave me alone, is a real living being, she probably has feelings, she’s really good at catching mice and she would probably keep me company if I was lonely. Interestingly the word ‘’ means all of these things and much more, all I have to say is and you understand.

‘Is’ is the next word in our sentence, it’s a commonly used word that I know how to use, look at how many times I have already used it. I’m not going to count them this time, but if you’re interested you can. ‘Is’ seems to be a word that can be used to add a description to a person, place or thing, I’m sure it can also be used for other purposes, but for the time being we will stick with this definition.

The last word in our sentence is ‘black’, ‘black’ is the name of a colour or more precisely the lack of a colour, when I say black, you know what I mean, if you don’t the words that you are reading are black. But what is black? Black is the WORD used to describe a sensory perception of the lack of colour.

Out of our four word sentence we have two words that represent concrete existing things - well at least sensory perceptions representing things I believe to exist - and two words that represent abstract concepts that are necessary parts of coherent grammatical sentences. Each of these words is loaded with meaning, without which, what I am writing would make no sense and wouldn’t mean anything; all that would exist would be a collection of black symbols. But if words weren’t loaded with meaning, I couldn’t even say ‘black symbols’, well I could, but it wouldn’t mean anything, it would just be an utterance of nonsense, I could just as well say ‘blah blah blah’.

Words are our creations, we are creating them every time we say or write them, we use them to express our feelings, our thoughts, our hopes and our dreams, without our creations communication would be difficult, maybe even impossible. But it is also true that words mean nothing but the meaning that we have given them - when I say we I am referring to all people since the beginning of language. When I say ‘the cat is black’, I am describing a specific - although that may not be obvious - I am saying something about that specific, I am attempting express meaning to you. But that meaning – the cat is black - can only mean as much as what the words already mean, I have combined them to try to convey some form of meaning to you.

So iv been blabbering on for the last thousand words trying to explain how words are confusing, mean only what we say they mean, and are essentially meaningless in-themselves, but I keep on doing it, if feels good. I love to write or more precisely type (in this case), I get satisfaction out of it and it comes easily (the ideas at least), and it is quite possibly my favorite thing to do. But at the same time I get this nagging feeling that it doesn’t mean anything, like I can’t say anything new – for nothing new can be said - all words already have a meaning, all words already mean something. When I speak or write I am limited by what words mean, I am limited by my vocabulary, I am limited by what other people are willing to except as symbols of meaning, I am limited by words.

What started all of this; I had gone for a walk in the forest, I got to explore, I got to be outside and I got exercise, it was awesome. I came back to the house, walked threw the door and saw my sister and her boyfriend; her boyfriend asked ‘was it brisk?’ in reference to my walk, I said ‘no, it wasn’t to cold today, it was much colder last week’. My response made no sense, it was nonsense, I though I knew what ‘brisk’ meant but I was wrong, then I gave an answer to a question that was not even asked. I sounded like a tool and felt like one too.

I looked up ‘brisk’, you know what, my walk was brisk.