Tribal people say the words are sacred. We don’t mean that you are supposed to kneel down and worship them. We mean that you should in your being recognize that when you speak, your utterance has consequences inwardly and outwardly and that you are accountable for those consequences. You can’t just say anything that comes to your head and then get distressed if another person acts on it. Now that other person may have misunderstood you, which means that they have a responsibility to find out exactly what you mean before they act, but the principle is still there. Without linguistic honor there can be no community, there can be no ethic, there can be no love, there can be no creative vision, there can be no peace, and there can be no relationship.
-Paula Gunn Allen