Megan Nisbet: Snyder #2

I find it so interesting that there is no one definition for wilderness. In his book chapter, Dr. Redick also explains how the word wilderness can have so many different meanings. When searched for at dictionary.com, a number of different definitions came up as well, which match the definitions explained by Snyder and Redick. They range from "a wild and uncultivated region" to "a tract of land officially designated as such and protected by the U.S. government" to "a part of the garden set apart for plants growing with unchecked luxuriance." It seems odd that one word can have so many meanings, so I decided to search for other words. "Religion" can be defined as "belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe" to "a cause, principle, or activity pursued with zeal or conscientious devotion." A search for "journey" returned things such as "traveling from one place to another" to merely "passage or progress from one stage to another." These definitions are more similar in nature, but they still deal with two different kinds of journeys-one mental and one physical. After looking at these words as well, I understood Snyder's metaphor of words meandering like a river much better. It also made me realize just how ambiguous language is--it all depends on the person using the word. My public speaking teacher gave us an excellent example of how ambiguous language is. She asked us to close our eyes, and think of a dog. She then asked us to open them, and selected a few students from the class, and asked them to describe the dog they pictured. Of course everyone pictured something different, which really showed us just how ambiguous language is. Without language, there would be no way to categorize a poodle and a rottweiler as both being dogs.