"Words mean things!"

"Of course words mean things!", you exclaim. "It's obvious! What kind of word would have no meaning?"

The words we use affect not only how we express thoughts and ideas to others, but how we think as well. As with Og and Ig, when the meanings we each attach to specific words differ, confusion and misunderstanding are the unhappy, and inevitable, result.

I tell you to think of the word "snow". What images does that word suggest to you? Do you think of a cold, white, fluffy substance that floats to the ground and collects in piles? Or do you think of a wet, gray, slushy mess that fills the streets and makes it difficult to get to work on time?