Learning Quote by Jenny Weber

The line lands like a slap because it turns something we treat as a tool into a boss: language isn’t neutral here, it’s a power structure. “Master” and “slave” are blunt, old-world verbs, meant to make you feel the stakes. Weber’s intent is less about grammar snobbery than agency. If you can’t name what you feel, argue what you believe, or spot what’s being implied, someone else gets to do it for you.

The subtext is about control in two directions. First, control over the self: limited vocabulary can shrink your emotional range, trap you in blunt categories, make every conflict sound like a threat. Second, control by others: politicians, advertisers, bosses, even friends can steer you with loaded terms, euphemisms, and false binaries. If you don’t “master” language, you’re easier to recruit into someone else’s story about who you are and what’s possible. That’s the real bite of the metaphor: the slavery isn’t chains, it’s framing.

The apostrophe error (“it’s” vs. “its”) ironically underlines the point. The quote performs the anxiety it warns about: language is unforgiving, and public mistakes become social signals. In a culture where status, credibility, and belonging are often mediated through how you speak and write, “master your language” reads as survival advice. Not to sound fancy, but to stay unowned.