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iPhone 15 pro, adobe indigo

Words are not real. Words are what we spray onto reality in order to understand it. If objective reality is invisible, words are paintballs we shoot at reality so that we can perceive and contextualize it.

I would not agree with Slavoj Žižek’s assessment of language as a violent perversion of reality. If I really wanted to get into it I’d instead argue that reality in totality is beyond organic comprehension. The best we can do is symbolism and metaphor, which can be misleading and/or enlightening depending on how they’re deployed.

For language to be violent, it would need to have an effect on objective reality itself. I don’t believe it does. I do believe it has power. By covering reality with words, we build our conceptualization of reality out of language through thought. Any restructuring imposed by language is subjective.

Which is why I decided, before grilling these hot dogs, to think of them only as glizzies. The term “hot dog” would not enter my mind throughout the entire process of food preparation and consumption. In this way, I aimed to build myself a new dinnertime reality.

What was the material impact of such targeted altered thinking? For me, being extraordinarily hungry, it meant three warm glizzies in the gut before I even got them to the table. I’d encourage you to experiment on your own.