Do You Believe The Words We Use Really Mean What They Say?????

Question

Who decided what each words meaning would be,how would you feel if it turned out they dont mean what we know them as,some english words have different meanings in other languages so how can we be sure we are using our words to express the right thing................

Answer 1

Now....this is one of the reasons I gave up philosophy A level...hey how do we know a chair is a chair and who knows whether I see a chair in the same way as you do...?

Sorry - I don't care frankly.  Things are what they are and if others mean them differently or see them differently, well so be it.  That's the way it is.

Answer 2

Well i'll be boring and the english language at least all sprouts from the old celtic words and latin, then even more words came from france when the normans moved over and  norway with the vikings.. so the meanings do get warped over time, also people invent slang all the time, g*y for example that used to mean happy but then it got a bit over proportion and means you tend to lean towards those with the same .. aspects as yourself. so no i don't belive most words mean what they really mean, but as long as everyone uses them the same way we're ok! Because if i were to call you for instance, a frustrated burrowing gonad you may take offense, where as to me I was calling you the equvilant of a brave noble and generally good looking human being.

that would be awful.

Answer 3

Our words means - what they mean!

We, more often than not, simply do not SAY what we mean; we misuse our words, we misuse semantics, we misuse syntax, we misuse grammar, etc...

Everyone needs a refresher course in Etymology and Semantics.

Words originated within the historic contexts of each ethno-linguistic group of people and their interactions with the things and events of life. The sound-combinations which they used to describe things developed into the words used in each language family, etc... So, no one individual, or group, "decided" what sounds or words would mean.

P.S. Your statement, "some [E]nglish words have different meanings in other languages" is Oxymoronic. Of course they do, this is what is meant by a "different" language.

Answer 4

"The meaning of a word is its use in the language" -- Ludwig Wittgenstein, philosopher.

What this means is that it's no use trying to pin down the meaning of a word or phrase by dictionary definitions -- very few words have a single, exact meaning, try looking some up -- but when we learn a language we absorb the meanings by hearing the words in different contexts, and thereby learn how to use them. The meaning of a word or phrase is socially constructed, i.e. people tacitly agree on what they mean, by using them in certain situations and in certain ways.

So languages develop, and words change their meanings as time goes by. New words are invented, and old words die.

HH

Answer 5

...old quote,"...in words is life and death" ...YES!!!

Answer 6

We have words and phrases that say one thing, but mean something else entirely.  That's why it's tough to learn a new language!  

Most languages are made up of words, phrases, root words, and entomology from other languages all over the world ("dead" languages in some cases).

Answer 7

Don't understand what you mean.

Answer 8

7% of communication is the spoken word, see facial features, body language, jestures, expressions, tone and pitch. y'know i guess some words are just meant naturally and some made logically. a lot is sounding words like onomatopea.. although i dont know anything what sounds onomatopea .. maybe the sound emitted from a pead orminent. i cant spell most words so dont worry about it, get some sleep.

Answer 9

no two peoples reality's are exactly the same. so my chair will never be your chair, and my green will never be your green.

i think the beauty of communication is this confusion. its what gives us our expression. the drive to unite ourselves with each-other. but there is no end, because as i said, no two reality's are the same. every breath you takes alters you perception of reality.

Answer 10

No word or phrase has a meaning in its essense. We have merely come to associate an item, action, or idea with a certain sound.

Answer 11

When one is "One Mind Soul-realized," a la the philosopher Plotinus, or the philosopher Husserl,

one begins to under-stand (Plato's new word, "hypo-thesis") the One Mind.

Such living Word or Light of Soul Mindfulness finds living words as cups of Light, Energy, Idea.

This is a level beyond "lying from the beginning," which latter is humankind's misuse of Word or God's Will, Energy-shading, energy-veiling, e-veiling, eviling.  It is the level of the ineffable Great Tao, or One Mind Soul.

The study of basic etymology is re-warding, as many high-falutin' terms have both basic and de-lightful formulatings.  Heidegger, although admittedly not inspired of God in his earlier work, did yeoman service in some Greek and German philology.

Some good layperson philosophy is to be found in Mark Prophet's "The Path of the Higher Self,"

O. M. Aivanhov's "A Philosophy of Universality," and Ann Ree Colton's "Kundalini West."

Free and Wilcock's "The Reincarnation of Edgar Cayce?" may also be worthwhile.

Answer 12

I've seen some stupid questions on this forum but this has to be one of the silliest