words
by zuza_her_mother on March 9, 2009
in students
Humans talk. Everyday sexagintillion of words are being said. With words humans refer to their surroundings, describe their feelings, name the abstract values.
Words are better than humans. They last forever. They don’t lie. They carry the truth, irony, humour, thoughts. Strongest weapon one could ever think of.
Okay then.
Define red.
#FF0000. 625-740 nanometer long wave. Colour of blood. Colour of fire. Colour of passion. Colour of ruby.
But I’ve never seen red before! You’re talking nonsense… What’s with that numbers? Show me red, not numbers, not letters, not fire, not blood! Show me red, describe it!
Define carrot’s taste.
Well… It’s watery and juicy. It tastes sweet, yet… It somehow tastes… orange. Err…
Carrot? How could carrot taste like an orange? I don’t want an orange, I would like to feel carrot on my tongue.
Define red. Define carrot’s taste. Define hunger. Define Frank Sinatra’s voice. Define the smell of freshly cut grass. Define fear. Define love.
You can’t, Words. You can’t.
Go burn in hell.
♫ Yoko Kanno – Be human
If there is an entity that should be expressed, there is also a way for expressing it. It does not have to be words, although language is probably one of the most amazing endowments to people. We should not underestimate it.
I agree that we shouldn’t underestimate it – but don’t we have too much trust in it? Very few people are able to use words well, and that’s a pity – ‘the most amazing endowment’, as you say, is being underestimated right now – who actually cares which words he or she uses in everyday speech (eg. swearing, replacing Polish words with English) and appreciates the fact that they can communicate… Imagine, if the manking was left without any language… Hah, that would be interesting. No expressing yourself. I wonder, would we think at all…
But nevermind. All I’m saying is, we should appreciate silence more. Sometimes it’s just better.