Words Mean Things

I love to read, and I read a lot. Many times, good authors give me words for my own lived experiences and are able to describe needs and wants I have, but have never really found the words to articulate them. 

Because of this, I genuinely believe that these days, in this world, words no longer mean things. You can use any combination of words, and they are accepted as representing a situation, even if they absolutely don’t. Every day these days, I hear a combination of words, neither I nor my ancestors have ever actually heard.

Here is an example. Recently, one government in Africa instituted a Panel of Experts on Compensation of Victims of Demonstrations and Public Protests. In and of itself, this sounds like a noble cause,  and I bet the victims would appreciate the support but what it fails to do is explain that, in fact, protests are not a cause of death and demonstrations, themselves don’t injure people, and further still, 98% of the deaths and injury caused were in fact caused by the formers of said panel (Allegedly)

Therefore,  Panel of Experts on Compensation of Victims of Demonstrations and Public Protests, the correct sentence here is Panel of Experts on Compensation of Victims of Police Brutality (Allegedly). 

The initial draft of this paragraph was very different until I realised that I live in the Bermuda Triangle of political dissidence and decided to use my free speech differently. 😂

The point is, this isn’t the only time where words are used in ways that words just can’t be used, because words mean things. 

Put your gloves down. I know you love it.

We have become accustomed to proximity lending legitimacy to our existence, but it would help a little to understand where things come from before deciding they are relevant to us.

Where did the name Silicon Valley come from? In the early 20th century, the silicon used in transistors and computer chips was pioneered from there. There were lots of companies in the region that were producing this silicon.

The story goes that a news reporter named Don Hoefler, who worked for a tabloid in the 70s, was having lunch with a marketer who referred to the Santa Clara Valley as Silicon Valley, something he had overheard some guys call it. Don was enamoured and proceeded to write a series of articles with the header “Silicon Valley USA”, and it stuck.

Now, beloved, what does this back story have to do with us? 😂

Why didn't we try Valley of Hearts Delight-Savanah? Santa Clara Valley Savannah? Because it’s silly, no? Maybe we should for shits and giggles. No, but really Silicon Savannah. We have done amazing things, mobile money from Kenya, C-sections from Uganda, the architectural and engineering genius from Egypt, just to name a few. Let’s use that as our identity.

We can learn from their growth and their models, but we have learned, boys and girls, that we cannot copy and paste and achieve success.

This, to me, sounds like the problem we are facing is that female founders aren't doing the work of raising more capital. Like if we pushed a little harder, we would, in fact, raise more capital. 

However, we know that the issue is more nuanced than that, and the buck stops with us, as investors, to support the creation of pipeline and, most importantly, to invest in female founders. 

Therefore, Female founders raised $ x, which was less than X% VC/Investors only invested $X in women, which represented just X% of total funding. 

Other things I won’t get into but have to mention, like using real mental health illnesses as describing words. You did not have a “manic” day; I’m sure people who experience mania will tell you as much. You are not “Bipolar” because your mood changes; that is not how that whole thing works. Those words mean things. 

I bring this up because I have just realised that using words anyhow does one of 3 things.

So the next time you use words, let your words mean things.