A dictionary of Marshall McLuhan’s quotations

Le Mot Juste”

The “right” word is not the one that names the thing but the word that gives the effect of the thing.

Experience is play, and meaning is re-play and re-cognition. Far from being normal, successful communication is a rarity. It requires not only repetition of a common language, but also demands participation of both author and audience in the process of remaking from their old components a pattern that only the author may have perceived. Communicating the new is a miracle.
Take Today with Barrington Nevitt, 1972, p 142
Year: 1972
↪ Also at #1196
Compiled by William Kuhns
© 2026, The Estate of Marshall McLuhan