This book explores language and argues that all words are inescapably loaded—that is, highly charged, explosive, substantial, intoxicating, fruitful, and overbrimming—and that such loading is what makes language matter. The author casts her eye over terms from knowledge, belief, madness, interruption, genius, and celebrity to the humanities, general education, and academia. Included here are an array of essays, from the title piece, with its demonstration of the importance of language to our thinking about the world; to “Mad Lib,” on the concept of madness from Mad magazine to debates between ... More
Keywords: language, words, knowledge, belief, madness, interruption, genius, celebrity, humanities, general education
Print publication date: 2012 | Print ISBN-13: 9780823242047 |
Published to Fordham Scholarship Online: September 2012 | DOI:10.5422/fordham/9780823242047.001.0001 |