We are curiously susceptible to the seductions of language. It only took someone to mention two words this morning to set my path for the rest of the day. Those two words? Corned and beef. But it could be anything. Somebody said jacket potato the other day and that was me down the Tesco on some primal hunt for conveniantly sized baking potatoes. Of course, this bewitchment perpetrated by language does not merely apply to comestibles. Writers have documented the power of the word in the realm of human emotions. Words like love, desire, hate, revenge, need. Words that carry around with them a dense magnetic field; that are heavy with culture; bewitchnment inhabits words like these; they are tempest-tossed by an unpredictable micro-climate that can set the mind in a spin. They are sacred words. When they are invoked, all kinds of acts can be set in motion, tragic acts, irredeemable, dreadful acts. Why, they are almost as powerful as another word that can play havoc with the imagination. Bacon.

peoplearerubbish.com