Our 25 Sept 2025 RoundTable 360° session was The First Word -A group was recently asked “Who would you bring back from the past? What would you want to know from them?” Answers ranged from “Julia Child” to “Kurt Vonnegut.” Learning who someone would bring back from the past etc. is only interesting if I find the person bringing and/or the person brung interesting.
My first thought was “I want to meet the first creature to decide “Oomph” meant “go left” and “Aarff” meant “go right.” I want to know how that creature convinced the creature beside it to agree “Oomph” meant “go left” and “Aarff” meant “go right” because thus began language. It was the start of novels, fiction, journalism, debate, plays, theater. From that moment foreword, every time one individual uttered a sound and one other individual responded based on mutually agreed-to meaning, we became us.
The First Word could have been an image on a cave wall or the first note from a carved flute and the evolution holds. At what point did everyone agree a curve made with charcoal become a bison in the field? When did everyone agree these notes together made them happy or sad?
How and when did “we became us” turn into “us-them” and “we-they”? What have we done with The First Word?
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