Words do things

Words do things.

Words perform functions; they accomplish work. I've been troubled by the blog name words mean things. It bothered me when I stumbled on it months ago, largely because of the haunting voice of William S. Burroughs in my head (paraphrased) "Words generate images not of things, but of other words." That was John Locke's beef with language: there is no one-to-one correspondence between word and meaning (or thing, for that matter). Words don't mean things. Robert Harris's Semantics syllabus provides a nice summary:

1. Words are only symbols, and in themselves have no absolute or unchanging meaning.
2. The structure of our language pushes us toward false dilemmas, toward either/or thinking
3. All perception and expression of perception and belief is subjective at least to some extent.
4. Almost all discourse is directive and purposeful, implies conclusions, or at least reflects a position.
5. Discourse takes place in a context of meaning and of connotation.

My professor, Dr. Kleine, stresses that when analysing discourse, the most important criteria is not "what does it mean," but instead, "what does it do?" I agree. Dr. Kleine would remove the "almost" from the fourth part completely. Emphasis on "meaning" is deceptive, and erroneous. Making words do work is what is really the key to effective communication. Meaning is determined by context, a thing completely outside the control of the writer. Sorry to harp, but that name really bugs me. Blog names are a fun thing to keep up on though, I really liked Adam's Strange Weblog Name Awards. Of course, Pissed Off Wet Kitties is translated in my brain as "Angry Pussy." Words are such fun.

The best link on his site right now is Tales of Mere Existence. I particularly like the theory of the Good Looking:

I have a feeling that if a person is listened to no matter what the hell they are saying they are less likely to think about deep soul searching metaphysical shit.

That explains a lot for me. No one really listens to me much, so that's why the shit gets so deep around here. I have no clue what all my words mean. I only hope that they do something. I'm far more comfortable with pictures; the level of expectation is not nearly so high. They do something just by being there, even if it's only to generate the question "What the hell is that all about?"