ATTN: Cuddlefish

[Cuddlefish]

I'm fed up.

That's not to say that I've eaten well. In fact, it's not to say anything, I'm typing. But, really, I'm getting kind of sick of this shit. Which, in fact, is not to say that I've fallen ill due to exposure to fecal matter, but I digress.

Words suck (not a vaccum). They are approximations. They don't say what you mean, no matter how hard you try to make them. They are obstinate, and there is no disciplining them. They're primitive, and that's not to mention most of the people that use them. It's like trying to unscrew a phillips head screw with a butter knife (The screw isn't made of Phillip's head, and the knife is not made of butter). All you end up doing is stripping the thing out, rendering it useless. We render life meaningless by trying to "unscrew" it with our "butterknife" of a language.

I'm pissed (not drunk, not urination). The more words I read, the more I recognize that I've payed for a picasso, and got a drawing of a stick figure.

What am I trying to say? That's exacty the point (not as on a needle). I think everyone should just shut up. At least for a minute or two. I mean, the most important things are obvious. Life is obvious. Let's just stop. Let's stop trying to explain everything, because everytime we do, we muck it up and misrepresent what was perfectly fine and clearly obvious in the first place (not necesarily geographic). We reduce it to a crude (not oil) cave painting. Then, the simple cave dwellers consider the painting the reality, when, in fact it's a really shitty interpretation of it.

Everything can't be explained. Not in words. So just shut up, already. There's just not enough of them, and if there were, it would end up being such a complex (not apartments) system that it would realy just confuse the whole matter (not physical substance).

I'm done with words. At least for now. They make things seem like something different than they really are. They give people wild notions of reality. They're a tool, and a shitty one, at that. Think about it. If your hammer (not M.C.) only drove (not a car) nails (not on your fingers) a quarter inch into the stud (not male), you'd get a new hammer. What's the point of a tool that can't do its job? And, shit, just like a tool, words are also capable of being used as weapons, but it just seems that, with this particular weapon, people can't help but to turn it on themselves...

But, then again, what the hell do I know?

[Eater of Clowns]

 

[Cuddlefish]

I c wut u did there

[Eater of Clowns]

I c wut u did there

It worked, AND it was deserved.

[Jasper]

Language obfuscates.

A year or two ago, I was riffing (in my notebooks, not here) on the idea that nothing true has ever been said, due to the imperfect nature of words. 

[Cuddlefish]

Language obfuscates.

A year or two ago, I was riffing (in my notebooks, not here) on the idea that nothing true has ever been said, due to the imperfect nature of words. 

I would or wouldn't agree with you, if I felt any of this actually meant anything...

But, regardless of its ability to convey truth, you can't really use words without shooting yourself, or someone else, in the foot.   

[Jasper]

*shrug*

[Adios]

I'm with you Cuddlefish. I am also tired of some who deliberately misconstrue and twist the original intent.

[BadBeast]

I'm of the opinion there are two different forms of language. The spoken word, and the written word. The spoken language is a living, evolving thing. New words are always getting added, obsolete ones, silently dropping away. There is all kinds of slang, vernacular, and hijackings of meaning. If the words we speak don't fit what we are trying to say, then we invent new ones, every day. Intonations, inflections, gesticulation, posture, situational contexts, even volume, can all make the same word convey a different message. This is how we communicate on the most basic, one to one level. It has to be as versatile, mutable, improvisational, and contextually morphic as we can make it. And we do make it. From sentence to sentence, conversational speech changes, evolves, and works for us.

The written word is how we attempt to tie meaning into language, and chain the mutability of speech into a form that can be understood by concensus. It has rules, forms, punctuation, capitalisation, verb forms, conjugations, syntax, grammar, and individual component letters, each with their own rules, depending on which other components it is used alongside. And even with all these rules, it still has to have huge bodies of Scholars, collating, revising, defining, re-spelling, and adding new words and forms to it. Dictionaries, Thesauruses, and etymological works all being employed constantly, to ensure that what is written down today, will still make sense, and manage to preserve it's original relevence in 50 years. 100years. 1000 years. The longer a peice of text is kept, and referred to, the less of the original meaning is retained. In the end, it is us that get trapped by the written word, not meaning. For instance, look at the constant amendments, additions, ratifications, and re-ratifications that are constantly used in Legal Systems. A Law, that was probably a good idea to start with, gets written down, and added to the system. The next time it is cited, in a Legal situation, two opposing sides sit in a room, and each attempts to hijack what the wording of the thing actually means. The best  Liar Lawyer  wins the day. And the Law is changed to accomodate this tricksters definition, which in all likelihood, has fuck all to do with the original meaning of the idea it was considered worthy enough to write as a Law. So the written word constantly tries to trap, change, and bastardise the meaning and intent of the very things we say to each other every day. Which doesn't necessarily do us any favours. But without which, we would be so much poorer, culturally.


It's a kind of Magic.

[Penumbral]

Why blame language for a uniquely human problem? We misunderstand each other whether (not the state of climate) we use words, motions, grunts, or telepathy. Communication is flawed all around, but what isn't?

I really enjoyed your rant though. 

[Jasper]

If I had telepathy, I would probably use it to decoeve others. And I think so would other people.

[Roaring Biscuit!]

I can't fin the exact quote but Neitzche (talking about music), went on about how the indescribabilty (not a real word) of music was more likely to do with its precision in comparison to the muddy imprecise form of spoken and written word.

Awesome rant btw

xx

[Cuddlefish]

I'm with you Cuddlefish. I am also tired of some who deliberately misconstrue and twist the original intent.

I agree, however, the issue is bigger than just those who do it deliberately. People miscommunicate reality constantly, without ever even being aware that they're doing it. The "general masses" simply assume (like they do about most systems) that it's perfect, or it's a near perfect method.

[Jasper]

I'm just glad the word "ineffable" exists, or we'd have to resort to a lot of indirect description to talk about anything interesting.

[LMNO]

I'm with you Cuddlefish. I am also tired of some who deliberately misconstrue and twist the original intent.

I agree, however, the issue is bigger than just those who do it deliberately. People miscommunicate reality constantly, without ever even being aware that they're doing it. The "general masses" simply assume (like they do about most systems) that it's perfect, or it's a near perfect method.

Welcome to the Black Iron Prison.