THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO REMEMBER

The most important thing to remember about our words is that they mean nothing.

It is the most basic tenet of language: “apple” only signifies as much as we think it does.  The word itself has nothing to do with the fruit.  The sequence of letters, the shape, the sound of the word is only useful if we think it is, and if, by constant use, we make it so.

I recently watched the Matrix movies for the first time.  I know that I’m coming late to the party, but even ten years after they were released, these movies still make some very fundamental points about reality and about human nature (which, when you come down to it, is the hallmark of any good movie).  The most strikingly accurate description of language I have ever heard is given in the third film, by a character named Rama-Kandra.

Neo, the hero of the story, meets Rama-Kandra and his family in an empty subway station.  After talking to them briefly, he realizes that they are not humans, as they appear to be, but computer programs.  Yet Rama-Kandra says that he loves his daughter.  When Neo seems surprised by this declaration, Rama-Kandra asks why.

“I just have never . . .” Neo begins, trailing off.

“. . . heard a program speak of love?” Rama-Kandra supplies for him.

Neo nods.  “It’s a human emotion.”

“No,” says Rama-Kandra, “it is a word.  What matters is the connection the word implies.”

None of the words you have ever spoken means a thing – and this is very important.  A word is only a word.  But the connection between it and the idea you mean to communicate is still significant.  If you choose words for themselves, you will always fail.  If you choose words for the ideas that they imply, then you will truly be a master of the language.