The Power of Words

It wasn’t until class today that I really thought about the English language. I take the words I use for granted often times, and I don’t always have the vocabulary I need to articulate my thoughts. The words I use may have different implications for the listeners than what I intend for them to have. What I found particularly interesting was the emotional connotations we attach to words. Never before had I considered a spatula to be an “assault weapon.” The term “assault weapon” accurately described the kitchen utensil I use to flip my omelets in the situation identified by the narrator. Now I see that the emotion of fear can be associated with an ordinary item never before considered dangerous.

Another issue discussed by the narrator was how authority figures influence the emotional connotations we associate with words. Some of us would never consider a weapon to be dangerous had the government not deemed it so. This claim reminded me of a similar theory I learned about in my ECON 102 class earlier this week. When a renowned economist predicts a future trend, people react in a way that actually causes that prediction to come true; these predictions are called “self-fulfilling prophecies.” The example of a self-fulfilling prophecy given by my professor, Dr. Dave Brown, is as follows: “For example, supposed the chairman of the Fed, Ben Bernanke, says that the price of cereal will decrease. No one buys cereal, expecting the future price to be lower. This shifts the demand curve inward, lowering the price.” I find it unsettling to think that public figures can alter our way of thinking so significantly. It makes me think that (to quote the Wizards of Waverly Place theme song) “everything is not what it seems.”