Talking with things - Building a vocabulary

The following is an except from Jonathan Swift's, Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, taken from Making Thing Public - Atmospheres of Democracy edited by Bruno Latour and Peter Weibel.

The other project was a Scheme for entirely abolishing all Words whatsoever; and this was urged as a great Advantage in point of Health as well as Brevity. For it is plain, that every Word we speak is in some Degree a Diminution of our Lungs by Corrosion, and consequently contributes to the shortening of our Lives. An Expedient was therefore offered, that since Words are only Names for Things, it would be more convenient for all Men to carry about them, such Things as were necessary to express the particular business they are to discourse on... However, many of the most Learned and Wise adhere to the New Scheme of expressing themselves by things, which hath only this Inconvenience attending it, that if a Man's Business be very great, and of various kinds, he must be obliged in Proportion to carry a greater Bundle of Things upon his Back, unless he can afford one or two strong Servants to attend him...

But for short Conversations a Man may carry Implements in his Pockets and under his Arms, enough to supply him, and his House he cannot be at a loss: Therefore the Room where Company meet who practice this Art, is full of all Things read at Hand, requisite to furnish Matter for this kind of Artificial Converse.

I love the idea of talking with things, I'd actually like to try it. This is because this is what i spend my time doing; trying to assist with the building of designer’s vocabularies. Designers build languages through the design of things - and like language, the meaning can be interpreted in multiple ways - misunderstandings and insults are rife.

Comments

[nic]

Hey Matt, how you doing? Couldn’t resist commenting. Is this your ‘haecceity’ thing again? ‘Words are only Names for Things’– words as tags, this hoover, this ipod.

Where does ‘and’ come into all this? Also, what about Lacan’s notion of words creating things?

Suppose it’s the realist or idealist stance.