Words are ideas
Within a word lies a concept, an idea, a thing that has meaning.
There are other things that share similar meanings, and some qualify under that word.
Like the word ‘food’ will paint a picture in your head.
There is an idea in your head.
About what is food, and what isn’t.
You might think bread, pasta or pizza, or someone else might think noodles and soup. Some people see the meat of animals but fewer think the live animal as a whole as food. Some might think the leaves of a plant, but few think of the whole plant itself.
For instance, when you think of a potato, do you think of just the tuber or the whole plant? Do you know what a full grown potato looks like, the flower, or even the seeds? I know I don’t.
There are categorical classifications that we ‘subscribe’ and ‘put under the word’ what is and isn’t. ‘Sub-scribe’ translates to ‘under (the) word’.
This gets even more complex when talking about more abstract ideas like the word ‘corporation’ or ‘government’ or ‘economy’ and even further into the sacred ideas of what is and isn’t ‘divine’ or ‘divinity’.
In another perspective, these words are thoughts, and they spread like a virus.
Words are a virus
-and like a virus, it spreads like a legion of conquest. Words encapsulate ideas and concepts or an ideology. People romanticize slogans and catchphrases as a catch all term to push their own agenda or ideals.
People will use the term ‘god’ or ‘democracy’ to spread their ideas, some may romanticize ‘capitalism’ or ‘communism’ as a blanket word to catch all. However if we put these words under a microscope and define them with discernment and high scrutiny, it would almost seem like we’re saying the same thing but meaning something entirely worlds-apart different.
Another instance; If you say ‘my father’ and I say ‘my father’ it means a different thing entirely, those words point to a different thing entirely.
And as the word in particular gains clout and status, it spreads encompassing other things and inviting more to see and ‘understand’ it as if standing under the banner or standard of a legion.
When someone says something meaningful or you read something meaningful, it gets stuck in your head like the lyrics of a song as you dissect it’s meaning or application to your own life. In a way this is like ‘catching a virus’, but the virus has no physical body and is an abstract concept.
Words are a legion
For there are many, and they are all one.
There are hundreds of thousands of words in just a single language, and there are many languages.
In a way, you can look at a page and see an army, an army of squiggly ants that hold shape as signs and symbols that evoke meaning that impart emotional, mental, or even spiritual impacts.
Words can be powerful individually and together they can be even more powerful as they enhance meaning- or even detract meaning from each other.
Part of legion dynamics is not just external conquest but also inner conflict. To have in-fighting with in a legion. Would mean that the word spl-its.
This can be a rephrasing of the word such as saying ‘democratic socialism’ instead of ‘democracy’ or ‘socialism’ to mean a particular thing. Much like how nation states undergo mitosis to balkanize and reform into smaller city states, the word and its meanings can undergo the same thing. People playing the political power game will spin words to give it a new meaning, a new concept, a new forged nomenclature to resonate with the people.
Such as rebranding a rebellion to a revolution- that is quite the spin.
Like human tribal camps creating political parties, separatist fractionating into factions, and various denominations- , we have to narrow down the specificity of a concept from a broad region to a more specific region. From saying ‘my back hurts’ to saying ‘the third lumbar vertebrae’. From saying ‘I want white pasta’ to saying ‘I want Chicken Penne Alfredo from Durum wheat with Lemon Garnish and freshly grounded thyme seasoning’.
This in turn is the legion breaking off into a very specialized squad to carry out a specialized task, form, or function, or simply using the right words to convey a very specific meaning.
Each soldier in the legion is a concept, an idea, a meaning.
To have different meanings- and for those meanings to fight each other until the word itself changes, or the specific words used change. Elaboration.
Hierarchy of Meaning
If I say a word with multiple meanings, the context as well as the framing help to deliver the proper meaning. However there is a term called linguistic ambiguity where one can use a word to mean multiple things to be intentionally vague to avoid being cornered or avoid liability.
Much like how a pun exists as a play on words, or how a double or triple entendre can exist.
If I say “Fort night” in the modern language, people would mostly think of the video game “fortnite” rather than 14 days holding a fort. Meaning changes over time and the meaning can be subverted and usurped by other competing ideas or concepts.
Likewise if someone says ‘stargate’, people may think either the TV show or a science fiction term rather than government declassified programs.
Part of corporate campaigns and psychological operations are to usurp the technical terms and become a brand household name. No longer is it a ‘cotton swab’, instead it’s a ‘q-tip’. In the Philippines people don’t say ‘photocopy’ a document, they say ‘xerox’.
The hierarchy of meaning is pretty evident when you play a ‘fill in the blank’ game. There are some good words that fit in the blanks, but there’s typically not just one word and this all depends on various factors such as context and whom is speaking.
For instance:
“I want to go to the ______ store”
A kid may say ‘candy store’ while an adult may say ‘jewelry’ store or ‘gun’ store depending on preferences. If you know someone very interested in fishing they might say ‘fishing store’ or some other store.
Point is there are many words that can fit, but there’s a hierarchy of likelihood that you see in the meaning that ranks some words and meanings that are more probable or plausible using deductive and inductive reasoning.
The greater the mastery of language and communication, the better we can use the best words and phrases for an intended audience to mean exactly what we mean and for them to receive as close to the meaning that we intend in the way we intend. Sometimes it’s simple words and a game of charades that gets the meaning across better than using big fancy words like in clandestine academic jargon.
Epilogue
I just wanted to throw out a picture that words can mean many things at the same time even the same word and it depends on the sayer/speaker or writer and context and inflections. Whether we truly mean what we say and such.
That words in a certain light form an army to convey a meaning, that a sentence has a meaning greater than the individual words. That a paragraph has a meaning greater than the individual sentences, and that a chapter and even book or volumes will have more inter-play like that of a strong cohesive army or legion.
If you do study more legion dynamics, such as supply chains, logistics, and communication- you might be able to metaphorically apply those to how words cross-reference each other and enhance or support meaning and intent.
Words hold the power of life and death at the extremes, and there’s a large middle ground between. Most of all-
Words Mean Things
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