Off the Map

We now continue our ongoing exploration of the interesting new general-semantics concept called “generic terms.”  Remember that the concept comes from the notion that language, by its nature, is generic, introduced to rival Alfred Korzybski’s notion of seeing language as abstract, which is how general semantics typically frames language.

“Good” is a word of interest when it comes to the discussion of generic terms.  “Good” is a very generic word.  “Good” can mean any number of more specific things in any given context.  Understanding that the word “good” is generic helps listeners understand that the notion is vague and it needs specificity if listeners want to more completely understand their speakers.

For example, take this statement:

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“This blog post is good.”

Say you read that statement and you agreed with it.  With what specifically did you agree?

That is, what specifically is good about this blog post?  Is the writing?  Is the editing?  Is the punctuating?  Or is it the color?  The typeface?  Maybe its styling and theming?  Is its news, in light of all the crappy news you’re heard today?  Is its opinion?  Or something else entirely “good” about it?

You don’t really know from the statement “This blog post is good.”  You might think you know, but the context of the statement isn’t given.

This means that in order to understand why this blog post is regarded as “good,” you need to dig a little deeper and ask.  You essentially ask this question:

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“What do you mean by ‘good’?”

That is, you ask this:

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“You use the word ‘good.’ What more specific term helps me understand what you mean by the word ‘good’?”

Let’s suppose you get a clarification.  What might that clarification sound like?  It might sound like this:

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“Well-argued.”

That is:

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“This blog post is well-argued.”

This clarification means that the statement “This blog post is good” means more specifically “This blog post is well-argued.”  That is one helluva more specific statement than “This blog post is good”!

So?  So what?  Why care about these kinds of specifications?

Well, take the purchase of new technology.  You might go to your local Best Buy and see the Sony Dash.  The salesperson might say, “Oh yeah, that’s the Sony Dash.  It’s really good!”

If you don’t ask questions into the salesperson’s meaning of the generic word “good,” you might just assume he means the same specific terms that come to your mind when you use the word “good.”

But you might be in for a hassle then.  You might find that “good” for you means “works just like my alarm clock.”  Upon purchasing it, you might find that it lacks some of your alarm clock’s functionality, which immediately disqualifies it as your replacement alarm clock.  Had you investigated the salesperson’s meaning of “good,” you might have learned that for the salesperson, “good” meant something much more generic, such as “puts a lot of content on a bedside device.”

Note that “works just like my alarm clock” is not the same thing as “puts a lot of content on a bedside device.”  And also note that “good” stood for both things.

Why?  Because the word “good” is a generic term that stands for a great number of other things.

Increased understanding that language, by its nature, is generic provokes the mission to dig a bit deeper into speakers’ and writers’ meanings, to get them to be more specific in order to understand them more clearly.  Their being highly generic may make them sound highly agreeable when their being more specific might make them disagreeable.  That is, their being highly generic may make them persuasive when their being more specific might make them dissuasive.  Of course, their persuasive power could be problematic, especially when they persuade you to get on board with something you find objectionable.

“Good” is not the only generic term out there.  By definition, all of language exhibits some magnitude of genericity.  “Good” is just one popular generic word in English, one I find of persuasive power over populations of people.

So I ask you, What are some other highly generic words that come to mind?  Add yours in the comments section below.

See also: alfred-korzybski, clarification, generic-terms, good, language-as-generic, sony-dash, specification