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Message: <blockquote data-quote="RangerWickett" data-source="post: 8010953" data-attributes="member: 63">My overarching thoughts on language are definitely inspired by one of my years in college where I studied semiotics (a field that considers how symbols are used and interpreted) in one class while studying speech acts (the idea that certain speech alter how people perceive the world, and thus alter behavior) in another class. And this was all in the wake of 9/11, so my head was swimming with concerns about how America was framing the response to the attack as a 'war on terror' rather than, say, 'a military-assisted police action in Afghanistan in concert with other nations to apprehend the leader of a well-armed but non-governmental organization that coordinated a mass casualty crime, followed by a military invasion of Iraq - a nation with high geopolitical leverage - under the pretext that the nation is semiotically associated with concepts of terrorism, and thus is a valid target in response to 9/11.'The meaning of names are usually opaque, and generally bereft of influence in actuality. I mean, I'm Ryan, which I know means 'little king' or something, but that did not ever cause me to think I should become a monarch or influence people to treat me like royalty. And I'm dating a Katherine, and I have no idea what her name means. I could look it up, but it doesn't matter to me.Labels, though (and occasionally names with very obvious meanings or allusions), do affect how people act.</blockquote>

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