Tara Duncan
The point I was trying to make yesterday, and I can't speak for anyone else, is that words only have the meaning we give them.
Language only exists so we can communicate with other chimps in outfits. We do it consistently badly on a regular basis.
Take the word "ass" for instance. It could be a donkey, it could mean the body part you regularly sit on, it could be synonymous with being a jerk. But it only has the meaning we give it. Take "ass", combine it with more letters and it could be association (completely different meaning, but again only that to which we mutually agree.
"Nigger" is really a meaningless pejorative term. Put some other letters with it and it becomes "niggeresque" - possibly a derivative of the original meaningless word, but more likely it means absolutely nothing. And yet, people regularly gasp in horror extrapolating it must be the most politically incorrect word ever.
Why do we not take umbrage when someone uses the word association? People are weird.
Printed copy · Anthology Volume 9, page 1228
