word!

My eyes were opened due to the discussion about rhetoric vs. epistemology, which is essentially the battle between the actual definition and the supposed definition. This got me thinking how we use words, and sometimes perhaps do not know the definitions, or the history, and while the latter is our latest essay assignment, I was just thinking some words that are frequently used when they should not be.

The first of these words is “gay.” Everyone, myself included, states that certain things that are conforming to our ideas, or hopes, are determined to be “gay.” Not homosexual, as we do not mean it in that way, it means that it conflicts with our ideas, whether it be something as trivial as an elevator not working, or our favorite restaurant not being open at three in the morning when we are trying to pull an all- nighter.

We also discussed the differences in macho between America and Mexico. The Mexicans, and representative of the rest of Latin America, macho is a man who take responsibility for a family, and taking care of the daily tasks. The American version is someone who can take on a million enemies and then go home at night, and seem like nothing happened. This difference in different peoples’ views is also reflected in the idea of what different governments’ labels mean. For example, in the United States, we have a federal republic and we have participation throughout the nation. It is a democratic form of government. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, both of the former names indicate a participatory government with fair laws, however, the nation is a military dictatorship, which does not allow for participatory elections. The nation is known as a democratic republic, but they have a different view from us on what democracy is.

Words are used out of context in the oral language everyday, allowing for confusion, and evolution of the words. “Gay” is used to describe the things that annoy someone, and democracy is relevant to the nation. It essentially breaks down to this, words are not held to the modern dictionary’s definitions, and therefore evolve definitions over time.