For more about escaping language/words: the Dictionary of Imploded Meanings.
If you think the system is working, ask someone who isn’t or who was stopped “dead in his tracks.”
An excerpt from Beyond Belief (Against the Weapons of Mass Distraction):
(YOU WILL) KNOW WHAT YOU KNOW
“I believe in America, I believe it exists” – Stephen Colbert
In the dictionary, everything is defined by everything; a tautological closed system where you don’t have to be a linguist to sense that you don’t actually learn anything. At times, our vocabulary goes on a rampage: “roadkill,” “collateral damage,” “trash,” “(human) refuse,” “bums.” We learn to become comfortable with our blindness. Language, as Barthes has said, is tyranny, but it is also criminal containment, segregation and avoidance.
All we ever do is to cross-reference everything – Nous ne faisons que nous entre-gloser. — Montaigne
What you accept as knowledge is your very own blind spot. — Pier Marton