Language and Thought

Looking at the connections between the language we use and the thoughts we have

Self-promotion makes me uncomfortable.

Maybe because I (read: most women) am not really great at it?

Or because I never want to sound sales-y.

Or because with software, it's always easier to justify tossing in one more feature than exposing our work to criticism.

A moodboard for people who hate self-promotion

Oh, I feel this, a lot.

Work makes a mockery of freedom.

Bob Black • The Abolition of Work

"Your boos mean nothing, I've seen what makes you cheer" is actually an excellent and life-affirming attitude

Divya Venn • Tweet

This is incredible

We often think of language as a means to an end, but rarely take the time to consider whether language in itself is influencing our thoughts, not just enabling the sharing of them.

Steph Smith • Gaining Perspective Through Untranslatable Words

Does language influence our thoughts? How can we minimize (or maximize) that influence?

An idea kept private is as good as one you never had.

Ideas not shared are lost to time

Curse of Knowledge : The inability to communicate your ideas because you wrongly assume others have the necessary background to understand what you’re talking about.

Morgan Housel • 100 Little Ideas

Learn to simplify if you want to connect.

H]uman beings need all the relatives they can get–as possible donors or receivers not necessarily of love, but of common decency.

. . .

When we were children in Indianapolis, Indiana, it appeared that we would always have an extended family of genuine relatives there. Our parents and grandparents, after all, had grown up there with shoals of siblings

Austin Kleon • KURT VONNEGUT ON THE NEED FOR BUILDING EXTENDED FAMILIES

Extended Family is important. Why not choose the extended family we bring in?

The ideas aren’t all gold, but they seem to find the people who want them, and they start to give life.

Nicholas Goodey • Resistance and Embracing Your Nature

Ideas don’t need to be perfect. The ones that are the best find their audience. But only when shared.

This viewpoint may be overly ambitious, and may even — horrors! -- be somewhat wrong, but I have observed that many good ideas start out by claiming too much territory for themselves, and eventually, when they have received their fair share of attention and respect, the air clears and it emerges that, though still grand, they are not quite so grand... See more

Douglas R. Hofstadter • Analogy as the Core of Cognition

Need to remember this