References to the collective

It is worth thinking about how often the "and", the collective, creeps into virtually all speech.  In political speech we speak about "the economy", which is a collection of all economic activity; income earned, money spent etc. within a given area; politics (a collection of leadership issues within a given area), "society", "the press", "the direction of the country".  There is always some collective entity out there; i.e, "the country", "the city", "spare change", "my family", "the workplace".  All subjects, such as "science", "nature", "plants", flowers, mathematics, geometry and language refer to various types of collections.  When we talk about a person, and how we feel about that person, we are, in effect, collecting our memories or knowledge of different things that person has done and trying to reach a conclusion or judgment regarding that collection.  Similarly, when we judge or speak of ourselves, we are collecting evidence, judging, trying to reach conclusions.  It could be worth speaking to someone for 15 minutes, and after 15 minutes has passed, attempting to set forth all the references to collective entities that were made during that period.  And, as we've said, all  language (another collection), is learned through collection (the and) and differentiation (the or).  The definition of the word "table" is arrived at through collecting images or conceptions of "table", somehow, with the help of others, arriving at an "essence" or definition, and differentiating that thing from other types of things.