Blog Post #4

Richards is elaborating on the concept of an idea that words have their own meanings that can be moved around and develop other meanings. The morphing of the definitions related to words is what leads to a varied degree of meaning. Richards uses the idea that names are used to be a “what you call” a person; it defines a human being. Much like words are used to define feelings, emotions, symbols and ideas. Just like the same human names can be used for many people, the same words can be used to descried multiple thoughts, ideas, emotions, symbols and ideas. This goes to say that with varying degrees of alteration, words themselves are remixes when they start to define multiple ideas. Richards uses the example of the general rhetoric as an organism; this organism is a metaphor for the relationship and coexistence of the hundreds or however many words that exist within a text. As an actual organism, millions of cells work together to create a functioning being. Words use their individual function to combine together in a harmonious relationship, which can change the original meaning of a word. Remix is exactly what words do when they define something. The ability to be able to call something “word,” is what is done when a remix is created; a new idea, symbol or thought is added on to the idea that was preexisting. The ideas posed by Richards relating to symbols were difficult to grasp in that he used such an arbitrary idea like symbols, I didn't quite understand the relationship between a conjunction of letters and a vague idea.

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