The Meaning of Words | Teen Ink

The Meaning of Words

December 31, 2011
By binstein.elizabeth BRONZE, Metuchen, New Jersey
binstein.elizabeth BRONZE, Metuchen, New Jersey
1 article 0 photos 1 comment

Favorite Quote:
"Fitting in is a Crime"


Words, don’t have genders
They don’t have religions
And they don’t have mouths
To speak the way they were
Meant to sound

Words, are given meaning
By the intention of the user
Of the speaker
Of the one filled with hate
Who shouts “Go die in vain”
You see,
Vain is full of pain, it’s caustic and degrading
And not one of us would dare to dream
That the meaning of a word
Is just a cliché

Words are defined as
A unit of language which
Function as a principal carrier of meaning
That we all believe the same
God created us,
In “His” image of perfection –
But “His” image of perfection,
To you, does not deserve the title of a word
Of anything close to, Perfect.
But you see,
That’s not me,
I believe the word Perfect,
Is disgusting, I believe perfect is an unreachable
Hypocritical, backwards word
That makes kids think they’re not good enough.
But to you, Perfect might be the most holy word,
Which I just corrupted with other words
That had no meaning until I gave them a negative one.

When you
Open your mouth to say anything,
I hope you realize that you’re opening
Yourself up, to interpretation
To speculation
And to judgments made by those
Who don’t believe in the same definition
Of a word
Which was born
Free to be used
Without a place it had to belong
Until we, gave words their “meanings”

The author's comments:
My English teacher was giving a lecture one day about how the meaning of words are really only created by the people who use them. I found that concept fascinating and decided to write a poem about it!

Similar Articles

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 1 comment.


on Jan. 5 2012 at 6:55 pm
fczochanski BRONZE, Metuchen, New Jersey
2 articles 0 photos 1 comment

Favorite Quote:
"You must do the thing you cannot do." -Eleanor Roosevelt

Wow this poem is so good! I feel like everyone has some connection to this and can relate to it in some way. I can already imagine you performing it. Great job!