There are two kinds of words: public words and private words.

image Public Words and Private Words

Let us think two people Alice and Bob. The definitions of words in the dictionary are shared public words. Those are institutionalized for multiple people to communicate. That is, these words are in the common area of Alice and Bob. On the other hand, the word just spoken by Alice is in the private area of ​​Alice. So, we do not know if Bob would feel the meaning as Alice expected. (*38)

The words just spoken are private words, so you don’t need to worry about whether they will be understood by others. At the same time, the words just spoken are private words, so you need to refine them into a better expression if you want to tell others about it.

It is similar to the story “Ideas hardly work effectively as they were born.” in (6.1.2.1) Young’s method to make ideas. Whether it is a word or an idea, it must be raised after seedling.

*38: A philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty argued that a personal private “speaking language” become the shared public “instituted language”. By using the instituted language multiple people can communicate. But at the creation of words, it is not instituted.

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