The Challenge of Words

I encourage you to listen to the CBC Ideas segment:  Challenge of Words  about how language works according to those who use it expertly.  The discussion touches on several issues of interest for this blog:

• How we "think in words" and the language we think in makes a difference;
• How we use both pictures and words to express ideas. Pictures can be vague but words demand precision, even though precision is elusive;
• How words can be used to create a totally imaginary world;
• The importance to a writer to find at least one person who "gets it" - the need to write;
• Difficulty for the writer to meed the expectations of the reader for narrative and a story that "makes sense";
• How language is ultimately limited in its ability to express what we want to share.