How did general semantics distinguish between words or symbols and the reality they refer to?

General semantics, a philosophy of language-meaning developed by Alfred Korzybski, distinguishes between words (symbols) and reality (referents) by emphasizing that language is merely a representation of the environment rather than the environment itself.1

Korzybski argued that words can limit or manipulate human thought, and he sought a non-Aristotelian, scientific basis to clarify the gap between symbols and the actual objects or events they describe. To prevent the confusion of words with reality, general semantics promotes practical evaluation habits, such as:1

• Indexing: Using subscripts (e.g., "man₁," "man₂") to distinguish between unique individuals that might otherwise be grouped under a single, misleading label.1
• Dating: Attaching time markers (e.g., "Roosevelt₁₉₃₀," "Roosevelt₁₉₄₀") to acknowledge that reality is constantly changing and that a word may not accurately represent an object or person across different points in time.1

By applying these methods, practitioners aim to improve their responses to the environment and avoid the cognitive pitfalls of treating abstract symbols as concrete, unchanging facts.1