The rocks by the shore

The rocks by the shore are safe, you pick your steps and progress comfortably. Rocks in my picture, are words. The water is what you suspect must be there, everybody has some sense of that reality surely. Don't look to the horizon, or even the shoreline. The water is closer. 

And furthermore

It could be words are floating leaves, falling on, following on, a sea of numbers. This is one picture of the relation of words and numbers, a relation, -- involving the question of the ontological status of mathematics --that no one claims to finally, clearly, incontrovertibly, understand. The interesting history of 20th century philosophy involves a strained focus on words. But if you don't understand numbers, how could you claim to know what words are?