ABSTRACT
The notion of priming in this book has largely been discussed impersonally, as if it were simply a property of the language. As shorthand, I have in places talked of words being primed, and only the tell-tale words ‘typically’ and ‘characteristically’ have hinted at the personal and individual history that lies behind the apparent property of the word. In fact, though, as I hope was made clear in Chapter 1 and sporadically elsewhere, priming is what happens to the individual and is the direct result of a set of unique, personal, unrepeatable and humanly-charged experiences. Words come at us both as children and as adults from a plethora of sources. Parents, caretakers, friends, teachers, enemies, strangers (friendly and scary), broadcasters, newspapers, books, cards, letters, fellow pupils or colleagues – all at different times and to different degrees contribute to our primings.
