ABSTRACT
It is common to think of language as a way of describing and giving information about the world around us. If you own a wristwatch, you can call it a watch and be sure that other speakers of English will know you are referring to the gadget on your wrist. There appears to be a transparent relationship between the word watch and the object, your watch. In this chapter we are going to probe the relationship between words and what they represent more closely, and consider the ways in which the language we use might affect the way we think.
