1.E. Catharsis

When you are angry, disturbed, hurt physically or mentally, probably you give expression to your feelings. It is curious that expressions, which could be as personal as the feelings that evoke them are rather stylized and predictable within a language. Words like "ouch!" or "oh!" are spoken by people who speak English, whereas our neighbours who speak Spanish will say "ay!" when they express a comparable feeling. Grunts may be the only universal expression of catharsis. When pain or frustration is sufficient, our cathartic expression becomes more obviously symbolic. We move from the "ouch ”to words that might be used in other ways, most often words that are socially disapproved of. We swear or curse or substitute words that sound something like the popular curses. We find that different kinds of expressions for releasing tension are appropriate among different ages and occupation. A sailor who is angry is not expected to say "Oh, goodness me!" and an angry nun is not expected to sound like a sailor. The physical stimulus finds expression in a symbol. This symbol eventually ceases to stand for directly anything in the outside world except an attitude towards whatever produced it. We move from physical sensation to verbal assault on that sensation ("damn it!") to mere release of tension. The idea of cursing dates to times when the belief in magic language was more common. There was a time when "God damn, you " was meant as a magic curse to bring about suffering. Expressions of catharsis have no referential meaning, and any word may serve the cathartic function. Probably each person has some favourite expressions for releasing anger. If you were to prepare a list of cathartic expressions, ranging them according to the degree of tension to be released, you might find it an easy task too which indicates that there are personal favourites for a choice of catharsis. The meaning of any of these expressions is to be found in what they do for us, not in a dictionary or in what they do for anybody else. Through repetition we give our select swear words added significance, so that with each new experience and repeated expression we may recall the release of tension from past experiences. If you have studied another language, you may have learnt the kinds of swear words that are most common in that language. In the literal translation they may not seem "to do much for you". Obviously, they cannot, for they have not yet come to be associated with the experiences that give them meaning. This same observation might be made for all words, but the language of catharsis, associated with the strongest of emotions is the most extreme example of the general principle.

1.F. Magic

The belief in the magic power of words exists in all cultures and takes the form of superstitions, instrumental curses. At the root of the attitude of magic is the assumption that words are part of the thing to which they refer and often, that words precede the thing (such as expressed in the Bible): "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning." Another quality of the magic attitude of words is that "words stand for things". With this belief it follows that one can alter a thing by altering its word. If I write your name on a piece of paper and bum it, you, too, will burn or at least suffer pain. Words in the magical interpretation must be treated with the same care as one would treat what the words stand for. A common example of the belief in word-magic is the hesitancy to speak of possible dangers. If, on an airplane, you remark about the possibility of crashing, fellow passengers may turn on you as if your utterance of the possibility might just cause that to happen. In some cases, of course, it may be simply that others do not wish to think of unpleasant things; but the manner and intensity of the reply often indicates a very real fear of the words. Symbols associated with persons have long been recognized for their magical associations. Personal names have been regarded as "part of the person", so that what is done to the name results in affecting the person. Elements of this attitude are still very common today, as when parents give their child the name of somebody important to them so that the child will be like his namesake. The magical attitude toward personal names requires that these not be taken in vain or, in some cases, not even uttered. Here the name is never a more symbol, but is part of the personal property by its bearer; property which is exclusively reserved to him. The belief in the magic function of language is based on assumptions that are quite opposed to the discipline of semantics which regards words as conven­tional, convenient and without necessary associations with persons or objects in themselves. There is a sense, however, in which words do have "power". Words have the "power" to limit our thoughts, though this is a different sense of the word "power". With rumour, with labels that evoke signal reactions and with labels we try to live up to, we see some effects of "the power" of words. Such powers, however, are not magical, for they are not to be found in the words. Rather, the powers are social and thus they are effective only to the degree that we accept our ianguage without evaluation and respond to words without evaluation. When we understand and evaluate our language habits/this social magic spell of words is broken.