It's all a bit arbitrary if I do say so myself (Ch 1)

I was glad to see that this first chapter did explain things a lot better than the introduction, although I was a little disappointed how inconsistent the whole idea of semiotics is. Throughout the chapter it continually reminded the reader of how arbitrary the study of semiotics is, in fact the use of the word arbitrary drove me to distraction at times, they could have at least used some synonyms.
The idea that each sign must have both a signified and a signifier to be a sign makes sense. It's amazing to think that our minds create meaning in everything; we can learn a word and the concept that is behind that word. Only with this knowledge can we speak fluently in a language. The other thing that is amazing to me, is how the signified and signifier have nothing in common with each other except that someone somewhere decided to join those two things together. The tradition of words is the only thing that has created the meanings of our language, so each language has a different way of categorizing itself. That means people have to agree on the meanings and be willing to use them in the right manner. I have witnessed people using words either out of context or that they don't know the meaning. This can create confusion and teach others to use a word in an improper place, or with the wrong meaning. The question is, is it this very thing that creates dual meanings to words? Can someone who creates their own meaning of a known word, if they get enough people to agree with them on their meaning change the language they speak?