In other words, Zed, you say that all words are symbols but all symbols are not words. This seems true but this could be better understood if we could come to a tighter definition of the word "symbol".

As in the Mt. Fuji question that was asked during the diaspora discussion - Is all we that we perceive through our senses of sight, sound, taste, smell, feel, and intuition, merely symbolic of the real world rather than a direct interaction with the real world absolute?

This seems to be a fundamental question about words.
And about us.