meanings and language as communication

i was watching a talkshow about business, regarding the economic crisis in US, and the guest was chatting about leverage and such. have you wondered how so little words can mean something so deep? by deep, i mean a concept that's not just visible but something more abstract. leverage may not be an abstract idea, but other abstract ideas, especially those not described by mathematics, are often described in language and words. how do we understand these concepts through the usage of words? how do we understand a brand new idea that we have never heard of from the words spoken to us and the associations we have with those words?

do we need a model already somewhat similar to the new idea in order to have words merely mold it in a certain direction and give us a new picture? or can words alone, perhaps the method of phrasing, the chronological order of the words and sentences spoken to us, the pace et cetera all included, transmit a new concept in one person's mind to another person's mind? how accurate is this transmission of the concept? is it possible that after a conversation, two people seem to agree on the nature of a concept...that in their further talks they don't find any inconsistencies or misunderstandings...and yet the concept is different in each person's mind?

art is a way of expression. in various piece of art, the picture has a meaning to the artist and the picture is shown to an audience to convey the idea. there are also art whereby the picture is intended to mean different things to different audiences. perhaps there are pictures that don't even have meaning at all to the artist. for those, an audience might nonetheless derive a meaning either because the picture strikes an idea in them or the audience expects a meaning within it and leads his or her mind down a certain path that eventually force creates an idea to identify with it.

this is interesting. language is like art. it is yet another form of expression, as is music, drama, poetry (what i considered language but merged with a sort of rhythm, tune and rhyme), and all sorts of devices, including new or radical ideas...perhaps like a man jumping in a trash can attempting to convey a message, which for all i know could be "the children is our future, we should invest in them" or something else like " music is the key to the soul". but language is the most used of all. it is, perhaps, the most fundamental. everybody uses it and often effectively. to discuss music, we use words to convey the feelings we feel. we don't discuss how we feel about Chopin's ballades me playing the drums and you replying with tunes on a flute. we don't discuss it by me performing a mine and you conjuring what you can by performing whatever crazy stunts you can. perhaps we could do this to express our ideas, but we don't. language is effective and much less tiring. we have a tongue and mouth. but then again, we have fingers and toes. we have eyes too and although it apparently conveys a lot, how can we initiate and proceed with a conversation on current affairs and how we might be able to solve our economic crisis with our eyes alone. when it comes to something more abstract, the visual isn't enough or precise enough but words, newly conjured words, can somehow bring the idea to life. probably the next best thing is sign language. but then, i guess i have to define "language" in this context more strictly to the spoken or written word, including widely accepted languages like English, Arabic, and Chinese, but not mere symbols written on paper that the reader doesn't know how to decipher.

ah! so the key is this. the secret to effective communication is the synchronization of the encrypting mind and the deciphering mind. the language is but a code. all English speakers have the key to deciphering the words to an idea and the more similar the "version" to the one of the one who spoke or wrote, the closer the accuracy of the communication. if the speaker of writer thinks of a boston terrier and says dog, then the idea is most efficiently gotten across if the receiver pictures "dog" as a boston terrier and not a siberian husky.