The pen is mighter than the sword - an example.

Hello. I am writing this, but not using a pen. Tip tap on keys and instant results in perfectly shaped letters in an order Gutenberg could only have hoped for. Zoom, zoom. Either way, I'll tell you about the first time I heard the expression of that the pen is mighter than the sword. I was just a child and totally misunderstood it. I looked at my pen and noting how small it must be compared to a sword. How could it be mighter than hard clinging steel? Needless to say someone kindly explained it to me to mean that words can be more powerful than violence. Thank you! This post will have several layers to it, I actually considered putting a label on it to be Watch out for subtext, but I figured that clearly signal for subtext would give the ironic result of there not really being any subtext. Sidenote. Always with the sidenotes.

Now, this expression is actually kind of, sort of in a way the perfect example of that we don't always say what we mean and that language isn't as logical as we'd like it to be (what on earth was that flying past my window I wonder if it'll rain today I really wish it'd rain and scare everyone inside but it'd be sad for those getting married today why's today supposed to be so romantic anyway funny how I pick the words I know how to spell like back in the day where I only used really short words because I was afraid of misspelling still kind of am I suppose yeah those bushes are really growing wild I need to do something about that it'll be later though I have to finish what I started here why am I not writing that guy on tv really needs a haircut not that longer hair is bad but that just looks uncomfortable I have to add conditioner to the shoppinglist by the way I forgot last time good God I hate this commercial) We don't actually mean that that little pen can beat a sword, what we mean is that worlds will live on and can argue better. Just as you say you're starving when you have skipped lunch.

Language is all about uncertainties, and we're reminded of it often. All those vague expressions we toss out there "I'll be there in a little bit", "that's beautiful", "it's late". They don't really mean anything do they, but at the same time they mean pretty much everything. If you have at one point put your heart in the hands of someone else you have also let yourself succumb to it. An often tossed around phase is "I love you", but we never really know what others mean by love. It's impossible to feel what others feel. So maybe it'd be more honest to say "I feel something for you that I personally identify as love." The more generic the phrase the more we're expected to take it at face value and expected to know what it means.

Over time I've also learned that not everyone has the same perception of words at all. Not all weigh them back and forth to at least attempt to find the perfect mix, the same tint to match the blue moods, the red and the green. What do you mean when you say "It's green"?

Another level of it is, just that, what I said in the beginning. We don't really use pens anymore to write something and when's the last time you saw someone walking around with a sword. Those expressions remain while the world changes. It must be impossible to learn it all, all those things we intend to say when we say everything else.