Words

What is it about words that can fuel anger or hatred in somebody while lending comfort or happiness to another? I have heard people use the exact same word in a group of people & have heard all types of thoughts or feelings about what was said? It is Bizarre to me how powerful a word can be. My mom used to say, "sticks & stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me". I believe that most people would rather have bones broken rather than have somebody say that they "hate you" or think your a "pig" or many other catchy derogatory words. Why is this? I think it is because a word can make an impact which will last forever & even though the word could have been intended to mean something different, we put our own meaning on words & our meaning can be very powerful with regard to certain words.
The strange thing is that words have a way of changing over time & the meaning or intent can also change which can be confusing. For example: Gay used to mean, happy or frivolous but now it means the 2 dude connection. Hot used to mean, hot to the touch & now it means hot to the touch but it also means very good looking. Radical used to mean something extreme but now it means extreme & for the shorter version of "Rad", it means great, awesome or wonderful.
Cool, fox, freak, crazy, off the hook, over the top & grill are examples of words or phrases which have duplicate meanings along with many other words & phrases, so when you hear a word or phrase that means something to you & causes you to react a certain way but makes other people act another way, you might want to find all the meanings before you respond or make life long judgments on the words being used. The sticks & stones phrase that my mom used to cite still has the same meaning & words can't hurt us physically but they can certainly still hurt us mentally so make sure when you use words, you use words that won't be hurtful or cause long lasting pain or anguish to others because mental pain will long outlast a broken bone or a physical pain.