2002-05-18 - 3:54 a.m.
Words are inherently fuzzy. There is an uncertainty associated with them. This is not true for numbers. If I say three plus five is eight...then there is no confusion..no deviation of meaning. If you ask me what I'm thinking, or how do I feel...no matter how accurately I try to describe this with words they never exactly convey to you my experience. No matter how discriptive I am, due to the fact that there are several translations involved, it's never completely accurate.
This standard deviation comes from the fact that I have to look at a certain experience, then judge which are the important defining characteristics of that experience or idea or feeling. I then pick words from the finite word bank in my brain to describe those main points. Then you hearing those words construct your version of what is being portrayed. It's apparent where the error enters. I can not describe with complete precision an internal experience. I'm just making an approximation. Also, the word bank I use to construct that approximation is not infinite...so it must fail to some degree. Also...even if I could completely describe an experience with the 100% appropriate diction, you interpret it with respect to your own reference frame. The same words have different connotations with each of us, and subtle points are most certainly lost.
So when she asks me what I'm thinking or how I feel about something, theoretically I never can tell her. Why doesn't she understand that these things are difficult. I hate this.
