blog four

In Richards reading, the main idea of the excerpt is to show the reader that words are empty until the writer shapes them in a way that gives them meaning and significance. The writer is trying to show the reader that words separately can do nothing; they cannot persuade, prove a point, show proof of something, make the reader think, or make much of any sense at all. The writer has to use certain words in a way that give meaning to them. Richards uses the term interinanimation of words quite frequently. Before reading this passage, I did not have a clear understanding of what this phrase, or three words strung together, meant. After reading the passage, one can determine that this simply means words are given meaning through animating and being animated by other words which give them context and denotation. Words depend on other words for meaning. For example, if one was to just say the word “love” it would have no context, but by putting other words in the sentence, such as I and you, it turns into “I love you”. The phrase carries much more meaning then just the known definition of the word love.

I think this has a strong connection to what we have been studying, in terms of remixes, due to the fact that the words are remixes when put into a phrase. Words start as a simple definition that one comes to know throughout the years, but when placed with more words, the word takes on a completely different meaning to the reader.