As followers of this blog know, much of my life has been involved thinking about meaning.
So when I found a book called “The Diversity of Meaning,” I have to admit I was rather curious to read a book on how other people have found meaning.
However, when I received my package, and tore open the envelope, to my surprise, the book was not about meaning in life, rather about words and their meaning. Meaning, that what words mean to one person, might not have the same meaning to the next person.
Constitutional law, is probably the most relevant place I have seen this applied in the real world, where they ask the question of what did the forefathers mean – or does it even matter.
However, since I do enjoy words, I started reading it, and it brought out a good point, which bears repeating.
Basically, words have different meanings to different people. So when someone says something, it might not really mean what WE think it means. I actually, touched on this back in January when I posted about self-definitions as being arbitrary.
So the only thing that this post is here to add to that discussion, is that the reason they are arbitrary, is because, the different people assign different meanings to their words based on their own experiences in life, and what they have been taught.
I think that this is why when it comes to dating, finding someone who grew up in a familiar environment, will best ensure that your definitions of things are also similar to your own.