See Through Words (Second Reading)

Reading through the essay, “See Through Words” the second time was completely different and I gained a brand new understanding of the essay. Not only did reading a second time help me understand more, but discussing it in class gave me new opinions and ideas from other people to think about as I went through the essay. The first thing I saw different was the pseudo-mistakes. To define a pseudo-mistake, it is essentially a mistake made on purpose. When I first read this, I basically ignored the true purpose of what the author was trying to say about fake mistakes, and I just touched the surface on what pseudo-mistakes can do. The second time, I took a deeper dive into why authors create pseudo-mistakes. The reason authors do it is to, “convince of solutions to problems or for internal communications.” Making many pseudo-mistakes can lead to great comparisons of words and will create the best metaphor possible. Even after a second time, it is still a tough understanding, but it makes mire sense as to why mistakes made on purpose occur.

Within discussing pseudo-mistakes, the author used the word labyrinth, which he said his wedding invite was built around this idea. I personally have no idea what this means so I had to look it up. The definition of the word is a structure with many connected paths or passages in which it is hard to find your way. Essentially, the author is saying he made his wedding invite difficult to understand, just like a pseudo-mistake.

In class, I asked the question about the difference between mapping and categorial metaphors. I was unsure about the topic and because of this, it made the reading a little difficult to understand. After the class discussion, I was able to grasp a full understanding of what the author was trying to say. Essentially all metaphors are made around the two ideas of categories and mappings. Categories address a broad spectrum of what the metaphor is trying to relate to. Mapping draws direct comparisons of words to each other. Now understanding that concept, the authors description of this made the reading so much easier and I was able to make more connections as a reader.