Interesting possibilities. Also more optimistic than I tend to be about such things, though I scorn labels and would not accept such things as Conspiracy Theorist, a bit of research on the subject leads me to something similar to what you said about confusion, only for a more insidious and tyrannical reasoning.  First there is law, and there is an entirely other language devoted to that.  When Bill Clinton said at his famous trial, it depends on which definition of "is" is being used, well the reason for that is there are nine different definitions of the word is in law.  Also the word must in law means may or may not...not quite what we were taught.  
Also I tend to think about how once upon a time the Bible wasn't allowed into the hands of the common man, only priests and scribes could read it. The Bible is a book of law itself that's still used in that way to this day. (Hell is a debtor's prison under the court of eschequer according to Black's Law dictionary-- not an esoteric afterlife but a physical place where they once threw people in jail for unfulfillment of debts) Now of course everyone can own a bible, so what changed? They now deem us fit to read the book? Or perhaps they altered the meaning of the words, made doctrines out of it, that distorted it so much that it no longer matters whether we have it or not, since we don't comprehend a word of it.

Of course when you're not talking in an official capacity, say amongst friends, then words mean exactly what you agree on them to mean.  But think about this one- spell. Spelling.  Isn't it interesting that the same word used for casting magical incantations is used in how we put letters together?  Letters which are really just symbols.