+269 It's fun to think about how we only know things by their names because they were named so long ago. Think about it. "Do your homework before you watch T.V." could just have easily been "Do your frog before you watch grape.", amirite?

by Anonymous 11 years ago

Actually there's been quite a bit of research put into the origin of language which suggests that words started out as a sort of verbal metaphor for the action/thing/idea they were describing. For example, the sharp consant sounds of the word "cut" mimick the actual cutting of a thing, the open wide open mouth vowel sound of words like "large" and "grand" are similairly large like the things those adjectives describe. While there is still much room for variance, as demonstrated by words in different languages, the meanings of words are likely not quite so arbitrary as you imply

by Anonymous 11 years ago