Yeah, that's what we'd like to think, but that's not the way it is.
The theory that describes this close relationship between speech and thought is called the "Whorfian Hypothesis", after the cultural-linguist Benjamin Whorf who first proposed it. Like anything else in academia, it isn't uncontested, but even if it isn't precisely accurate, it is generally a good description of how things are. Anyone who has ever learned a foreign language knows there are certain ideas or notions or concepts or, well, just simply words that are untranslatable. These folks also know that there are somethings, that even if they are similar in meaning are said in very different ways.
For example, the Germans have a word (one of my favorites, by the way), hinterfragen which is untranslatable. Literally it mean "to question behind" (fragen = to question; hinter = behind). What is means is to be critical about something, to question the assumptions upon which a statement is made, to try to get to the bottom of the matter, to find out what is really going on. On the other hand, we English-speakers can be "cool as a cucumber", and I can assure you that calmness and cucumbers are not two ideas that the everyday German would bring together like that.
The point is that both of these notions: the questioning and the self-assuredness are being expressed in metaphorical terms. There is no "space" behind questions any more than cucumbers can be calm and self-composed. Again, these are metaphors that help us express what we want to say.
And this is the point: there are many more instances of these kinds of things in all languages than there are instances of literally saying what you mean. "Hinterfrager (those who tend to "question behind") are called doubting Thomases; "smart cookies" know a lot; almost universally we all "go through Hell" when things are bad and find ourselves "in Heaven" (sometimes numbered, e.g., 7th) when things go well. The more you look, the more you dig into the language -- any language -- the more figurative (for metaphors are but one figure of speech) it becomes. Language is, at heart, figurative, not literal.
So why do I care? Well, if how we speak reflects how we view the world, and if how we view the world is reflected in how we act, then an increasing number of commercial, business-related, impersonal metaphors would indicate that we are becoming more commercial, business-related and impersonal in our thinking. If our thinking becomes more commercial, business-related and impersonal, then it is only a matter of (very little) time until our actions become commercial, business-related and impersonal. That's not good for us as people, because, well, human beings are deep down neither commercial, nor business-bound nor impersonal. Human beings are in trouble when there are no other human beings around. Robinson Crusoe didn't lose it because Friday showed up. John Donne told us clearly that no (hu)man is an island unto himself. And this is why, in the end, prolonged solitary confinement is rightfully considered torture.
What we say matters, and how we say it matters even more. Listen to yourself. How are you engaging the world? What vocabulary, phraseology, and which figures of speech dominate your own communication with the world?
I can assure you that whoever is (truly) listening already knows.
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