Human Language

I'm sure I'm not the only person who has these kinds of moments. Every now and then, when you're thinking about a familiar word, any word, thinking about what it means, how it's spelled, what it sounds like when it's said aloud, maybe repeating it a few times - an odd thing may happen. Suddenly, you see it in a new light. This word, used thousands and thousands of times in the past, now seems, looks, and sounds ridiculous. You think to yourself: “Ha, what a dumb word!” (Not the thing the word symbolises, but the words itself.)

Two minutes later, it doesn't seem so stupid anymore, it's returned to its normal familiar state.


I wonder whether on these rare occasions we actually feel the truth which we generally know to be true: that words are merely symbols we quite arbitrarily choose for realities?

The words vary from language to langauge and evolve within each language over time, but the reality remains the same. The thing itself is real, the word is not. But through endless repetition the word and the reality it symbolises have fused into one so that speaking the word immediately brings forth the picture of the reality. But on rare occasions they're detached for a brief moment. And during those moments when the link between the thing and the symbol is not apparent, we realise how inadequate and clumsy the symbol is in comparison to the thing itself.

Perhaps someone can draw even more fundamental conclusions. I don't think trivial phenomena like these are trivial at all: very often they're an echo of an intriguing secret. That makes them so fascinating and worth reflecting on.