Is Love Just a Word?

There is a difference between using a word and mentioning it. To understand this difference, consider the following sentences:

Blue is a word.

“Blue” is a word.

In the first sentence, we are using the word blue, and the statement we are making is false: Blue is not a word; it is a color. In the second sentence, we are not using the word blue, we are merely mentioning it, and the statement we are making is true: “Blue” is indeed a word.

In English and many other languages, we use quotation marks to indicate that we are mentioning (rather than using) a word, and if we want to make the distinction especially clear, we can alter the second sentence slightly:

The word “blue” is a word.

Realize, too, that instead of using quotation marks to indicate that we are mentioning rather than using a word, we can use italics:

Blue is a word.

Whether we use quotation marks or italics will depend on the circumstances.

Lots of people don’t understand the difference between using words and mentioning them, a failure that can have serious consequences. During the recent wokeness contagion, for example, people were accused of using the n-word when in fact they had only mentioned it. This is ironic, since the most effective way to prevent people from using a word is to tell them not to use it, and the most effective way to do this is to mention the word you don’t want them to use.

To test your understanding of the difference between using and mentioning a word, consider the following sentence:

The alphabet has 26 letters, but “the alphabet” has only 11.

What do you think: Is it true or false? The answer can be found in the footnotes.*

Using quotation marks to indicate that we are mentioning words is possible if we are writing sentences. If we are instead speaking them, however, things can get confusing. For example, suppose a friend tells you that blue is her favorite color. You will likely assume that she is using “blue” and will thereby gain information about her color preferences. Now suppose she adds that blue is also her favorite word. You will likely make a different assumption—that she is mentioning “blue”—and will thereby gain information about her linguistic preferences.

Suppose that at this point, the conversation takes a turn. The friend reveals that she has recently been jilted by her boyfriend, that her heart has been broken, and that as a result, she has developed a cynical attitude toward romance. She tells you not just that she has given up on love but has reached a profound conclusion—that LOVE IS JUST A WORD. On hearing this declaration, lots of people will nod their head in agreement. Based on their personal experience, they will take it to offer an important insight into romantic relationships.

According to philosopher Daniel Dennett, however, these people will be making an intellectual blunder. They will have fallen for what he refers to as a deepity. He characterizes a deepity as

a proposition that seems to be profound because it is logically ill-formed. It has (at least) two readings and balances precariously between them. On one reading, it is true but trivial, and on another reading, it is false but would be earth-shattering if true.

Tell a Thinker that love is just a word, and they will ask for clarification: In saying this, are you using the word “love” or merely mentioning it? If you are mentioning it, your claim will be true but trivial: Of course the word love is just a word! If you are instead using it, your claim is patently false. Love, after all, is an emotion, not a word. For a Thinker, then, the claim that love is just a word, rather than expressing a profound thought, won’t even be worth thinking about.

This is only one of many linguistic pitfalls by which an unsuspecting person can become ensnared. For other pitfalls, I invite you to take a look at Chapter 7 of How to Think More and Better: Being Reasonable in Unreasonable Times.

*The sentence is true, since the collection of letters known as the alphabet does indeed have 26 letters, and the phrase “the alphabet” has eleven. Notice that in this case, we are mentioning not a word, but a phrase, “the alphabet.” Realize, too, that we can mention entire sentences:

“This is an English sentence” is an English sentence.

Need more food for thought? Click here for my past essays, listed by title. Want to listen to rather than read my essays? Click here for narrations of my essays on becoming a Thinker, and click here for narrations of my essays on “applied thinking.” Narrations of my essays on becoming a Thinker are also available on your favorite podcast app. To play them, open that app and search for “Thinking More and Better,” and add episodes to your playlist.