There are times in which I feel language imoverished

[adrienmundi]

OK, fine, there are many times in which I feel language impoverished; this is one of them.

I'm having a great deal of difficulty finding what feels like appropriate language for a lot of things I feel the need to talk about, work through, etc. Maybe it's that I'm such an egotist that I insist on using my own language, or constructions that mean only what I intend them to mean, devoid of connotations and associations that work at either different or counter purposes to what I'm actually working on. Actually, I'm sure that's a part of it, and also one of several likely explanations as to why I feel so unskilled and inept when it comes to communication; if I succeed in creating my own constructions, no one will understand what I mean, and if I use "general" words and constructions, it doesn't convey what I want, and leaving me feeling like I spend more time qualifying what I'm about to say, rather than saying it.

Lately, the language with which I find myself at odds tends to be that which I assign to the categorie(s) "metaphysical/paranormal/new age-y", usw. I don't like the connotations and assumed meanings that I assign to those categories, so of course I assume others will do likewise. I absolutely don't want the assumption of, "Oh, you said 'X', and there is an entire culture that, when 'X' is stated, translates and interprets 'X' in several specific contexts". (Yeah, I'm often pointlessly whiny about things I can't change; this really shouldn't be new to anyone).

The frustration is multiplied, as these are things on which it feels I need to get a grip, and I think/work best in dialogic fashion (much to the often-chagrin of those near and dear, I suspect). When I do manage to open the box, conversation on my part often feels anemic (mega-geek points to anyone who gets the very pretentious but unintentional allusion in that last clause); I feel bound by assumed meaning I want little to no part of.

Comments

[scottopic.livejournal.com]

But isn't that how interaction works? The meanings have been built up, most people have spent a lifetime with them. The general connotations are full of misintent and the like, but can be used (and molded) to get the closest approximation we can hope for, even if it's 'just' Ivory Snow Pure. It's a personal privelege to have one's own interpretations - and I don't know that there is a metalanguage that would benefit all.

That said, have (a) happy day of biological birth!
Mind erasers will clear up everything for you tonight, and/or live up to their name and connotation. :)

[adrienmundi]

Just because it's how things tend to work doesn't mean I won't struggle with it, or against it, as the case may be. I want to be a neurolinguistic hacker, like Juanita from Snowcrash, but I'm probably too post-structural to be able to pull off even conceptualizing such a construct, much less using it.

[cmpriest.livejournal.com]

is today your birthday???
well i'll be darned!
hope it's a good one
;-)

[adrienmundi]

It is, and thanks!

[fey-touched.livejournal.com]

Though this has little to do with the subject of your post:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

[martinhesselius.livejournal.com]

Happy Birthday. :)