Words are powerful, they can make or break situations big and small. From your Friday date to starting a war, the right (or wrong) words can be the difference between bliss and destruction. But have you ever wondered what’s the connection between language and context?
In other… words, words are powerful in unique ways, that go beyond the surface of things. Just look what I did at the beginning of this paragraph. Yet at the same time, language seems to rely on a wider context to operate efficiently.
Just to clarify, in this post I do not refer to linguistic but to sociocultural context. The issue is not whether the sentence “He did this to me, this way” says nothing without a context about “He”, “this”, “this way” (and even “did”).
Rather, the issue is whether words taken out of their context can have a seriously destabilizing effect. Take these sentences for example:
I use emotion for the many and reserve reason for the few.
Fear defeats more people than any other thing in the world.
Do not compare yourself to others. If you do so you are insulting yourself.
You probably don’t see anything particularly wrong with them. Indeed, they probably come across as good advice, not unlike what you’d see as a quotation – complete, with a sunset sky or butterflies behind it.
I’ve got a little surprise for you, though…
And it makes a hell of a difference whether you’re in your bathtub or the Pacific Ocean