Sometimes it seems that in mainstream American culture, words have lost some of the power attributed to them by many in the past and in other parts of the world. One of the best examples of this power is in the use of one’s name.

Many cultures and subcultures believe that knowing a person’s name gives you some degree of power over them. In Paganism and Wicca, practitioners will frequently select (or be given) a secret (or “Magikal”) name in addition to their public name. According to conventional belief, this name should never be told to anybody, and reserved only for ritual work, the idea being that this name is the one you use when communicating with the gods. This all stems from the belief that “anything we know the secret name of, we can destroy” (Source…). This idea is not unusual in the world, but still seems quite foriegn to many Westerners.

In American culture, your (only) name is public domain, expected to be used anywhere and everywhere when people need to make reference to you. We give out our name when meeting complete strangers, write it on the various cards and documents we carry at all times, wear little tags on our shirts which proudly display it, and even post it online or in a phonebook, available for anybody who might stumble across it. Our names are common knowledge.

However, I think that the attitude that knowing a name gives you power is still present, to some extent, in Western thought. We really like to know the name for everything and everybody around us, and when we can’t figure it out, we begin to feel uneasy. Imagine meeting a person at a party and introducing yourself, only for them to respond that they won’t tell your their name. If no reason were given, you’d likely feel curious at first, maybe trying to get it out of them later in the conversation. If that didn’t work, you might ask somebody else. Finally, you might be a little bit scared and distance yourself from the nameless person.

People without names are both feared and esteemed in our culture, with examples from entertainment like “V” from “V for Vendetta” or Batman, both of whom use their secrecy and namelessness as a weapon. To this day, anonymity is viewed as dangerous. Just imagine refusing to tell the police officer your name next time you get pulled over. No matter what you did, it’s doubtful that they’d let you go until they found it out, either through your surrender, or their fingerprint database.

Now, more than ever, having somebody’s name gives you power over them. Armed with just a name, you could find all sorts of information scattered over both the internet and the printed world, and with the advent of sites like Facebook and MySpace, you can even find out who matters most to them. Knowledge is power, and a name leads to knowledge about a person.

So, according to some, every nametag, business card, facebook profile, or phonebook entry you bring into existence comes with the ability to control you. However, there are still some people left who are worried about the secrecy of their name. Need proof? Just ask the next telemarketer who calls you for their first and last name. Their silence will speak volumes.

Tagged with Conventional Linguistics, Language and Ritual, Language Usage, Linguistic Mysticism | 2 Comments


Call me paranoid, but the biggest source of worry for me involving language and thought (Linguistic Relativity) research is that the research and the ideas it creates will fall into the wrong hands. Given, it’s nowhere near as dangerous as the atomic bomb or gunpowder, but it still has some potential for abuse, on a number of fronts.

Perhaps the most likely form of abuse would come from the corporate world. Marketing and advertising are a multi-billion dollar industry in the United States alone, and with a highly competitive market for many common goods, every company would like an “edge” that would bring the hearts and minds of the people over to their brand.

With enough money, any company can flood the airwaves, streets and billboards with their name and message. If Megacorp A wants you to buy from them, they can advertise as loudly, cleverly, or frequently as they like, but there’s still nothing keeping Megacorp B’s Ads from being just as loud, clever or frequent. New marketing techniques (such as Viral Marketing and new advertising media (internet ads, product placement, adware) can briefly give one company the edge, but the public will quickly move on and the technique may fade away. Right now, ads are only as effective as their exposure and presentation.

There have been efforts to gain the upper hand through other, less obvious (and more devious) means. One such effort is that of Subliminal Advertising. Designed to pass a message by our normal, everyday perception and straight into the mind, Subliminal messages are frequently used in Propaganda, but can occasionally be found in advertising. Take this example:

During the 2000 U.S. presidential campaign, a television ad campaigning for Republican candidate George W. Bush showed words (and parts thereof) scaling from the foreground to the background on a television screen. When the word BUREAUCRATS flashed on the screen, one frame showed only the last part, RATS. Democrats promptly asked the FCC to look into the matter, but no penalties were ever assessed in the case. The effect this had on the overall presidential race was unclear.

(From the Wikipedia site on Subliminal Messages)

Subliminal messages are discouraged in advertising, and the FCC and National Association of Broadcasting have both banned the use of Subliminal messages in programming or advertising (More information…), even without conclusive evidence of their effectiveness. Subliminal messages are relatively easy to find and demonstrate, and they are rare enough that having one found and exposed can be a public relations disaster for advertisers.

So what does language and thought have to do with it?

If language used does in fact affect our thoughts (both consciously and unconsciously), then a whole new avenue of research is open to exploitation by those few whose greed may outweigh their ethical standards.

Already, there have been innocuous forays into subtly structuring language to slip a message, feeling or idea by the listener. There are firms who exist solely to advise marketers about potential product names based on their “sound symbolism”. According to these people, certain language sounds denote slowness, daring, or pleasant feelings. Thus, through some strange combination of aesthetics and subliminal suggestion, they claim to be able to design a product name which helps to place your product above the competition’s in the mind of the customer.

As research into the interaction of language and thought continues, more and more techniques will arise to help get Megacorp A’s message into your head more quickly, efficiently, and powerfully than Megacorp B’s. Now more than ever, linguists and psychologists are being snatched up into the corporate world with the goal of learning how to better influence people. Ph.D’s are pitted against preteens in a battle for their purchasing power, and with the advancement of research, there are more and more tantalizing techniques for them to try each day.

Just like fire, gunpowder or dynamite, psychological and linguistic research in this field can be used both for and against the good of the everyday person. I do believe that the increased understanding that can be found through this research will be of benefit to psychology, linguistics, and our understanding of the human mind. However, we must always be on the lookout for the few bad eggs who might want to use these ideas for less-than-ethical purposes.

If all words hypnotize, then it’s vital to not only recognize who your hypnotists are, but also how they do what they do.

Tagged with Conventional Linguistics, Language and Thought, Language Usage, Linguistic Mysticism, Notes, Tirades | 3 Comments


This is more of an open-ended post than normal, but the issue of formality in Religious discourse came up today.

Having not been raised in any particular religion, I was somewhat surprised to discover that in the Bible, God is usually addressed informally rather than formally (when the language so permits).

For an example, let’s use Job 10:4 (this passage is the first I found where a person speaks with God. Attribute no special significance to this choice.).

In the New International Version of the Bible, the passage is glossed:

You don’t have human eyes.
You don’t see as people see

Modern English has lost the Second Person informal (‘Thou’), so this informality doesn’t show up at all in Modern English translation.

However, in the King James Version, we start to see this informality:

Hast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man seeth?

Here, the full informal is used in reference to God. Also interesting is the lack of the capitalization found in the NIV’s “You”, when referring to God.

Interestingly, this same informality showed up in other languages as well. The Reina-Valera Spanish Version of Job 10:4 uses the informal “tu” (lowercase) in place of “Usted”, and the Russian Synodal Version uses the informal “Ti” (uppercase) in place of “Vi” (Sorry, my cyrillics are having issues with this blog). This pattern also held true in French, German, and Portuguese, as best as I can tell.

Of course, there are people who might have a field-day with this information, attributing all sorts of cultural conclusions to these choices (“People must view God as their friend!”). However, rather than jumping to any conclusions, I’m going to ask what other people think.

So, my questions for my readers are twofold:

First, if you speak another language or practice another religion, with what form of address do you address your Deity or Deities? Do you use a formal Pronoun (Usted, You, Vous, Sie, etc.) or an Informal pronoun (Tu, Thou, Du, etc.)? For languages with many levels of formality, please specify.

Second (and answer this only if you’d like), does this informality (or lack thereof) hold significance for you? Do you feel like it’s more a matter of tradition than anything? Do you think that this represents or affects your perception of your God(s)?

If you’d like to post a reply, either click “Comments” below this post, or send me an email (will at this domain name dot com). All comments will be moderated for spam prevention, so yours may take some time to appear.

I hope this yields some interesting answers, and maybe some interesting discussion!

Tagged with Conventional Linguistics, Language and Ritual, Language Usage, Linguistic Mysticism | 1 Comment

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