I’m answering the TOP question I get asked about words: “Have words not been around forever?”

The answer is “No, they haven’t”.

The answer to what’s been around forever is in 4 parts. Part 1: Energy. Part 2: Earth. Part 3: Humanity. Part 4: You.

Part 1: Energy
Fomulised in “E=mc²” (by Albert Einstein), energy has been around forever and day. Practically speaking, nobody knows since when, but many pretend.

Part 2: Earth
On our blue planet, words and word-users got invented 13,750 years ago. 13,750 years ago marks the time Before Words and After Words. The age was stone, the Sahara green, Northern Europe under 1-mile-thick ice, and writing hadn’t been invented yet.
Before Words — the first 4.65 billion years or 99.9997 percent — Earth had been wordless. How on Earth it managed for its first 4.65 billion years without us, the word-users, is hard to believe, hence everybody’s guess.

Part 3: Humanity
Like everything you have a word for, humanity is a word.
It’s not unlikely you’ve read or heard that in the beginning is the word. Humanity began when that word began, 700 years ago. You’ll decide between two humanity choices currently on offer, the traditional and the intelligent.
The traditional humanity is what your smartphone is telling you, that humans have been around since 160,000–60,000 years ago.
The intelligent choice is Before Words and After Words, which happened 13,750 years ago. Before we were animals without words, and After (also known as now) we’re animals with words.

If you haven’t decided between traditional and intelligent, then you have already made your decision, haven’t you? This is as simple as it gets. “Plus simple tu meurs” (any simpler you die) as a French saying goes.

Why every other animal hasn’t converted to words (do the non-word-users know something the word-users ignore?), and why we call each other human, rather than animal with words, beats me, practically speaking twice.

Part 4: You
Your personal journey is also marked by the time Before Words and After Words.
During the approximately 27 months Before Words (average), you had been wordless.
You spoke your first (word) between the ages of 1 and 6 (average).
“It is true that my parents were worried because I began to speak fairly late, so that they even consulted a doctor. I can’t say how old I was, but surely no less than three.” – Albert Einstein
Like Albert, you began when you realized that you was you for the first time.
It’s not just about Albert and you of course. We’re all in this together, and I trust the above answers the TOP question I get asked about words: “Haven’t they been around forever?”

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