What is with tiny text?

I see that as a design element it occasionally adds zing to icons. I am not sure why. I also have a vague feeling that the emperor has no clothes. Tiny text delivers no content and merely serves as another kind of texture, so why is it so "cool", so popular? I wonder if it is really delivering some sort of subliminal message that the aliens are coming to destroy the earth and we must all bow down and worship the Vorlon god Boojie. What gives?