Category Archives: Language

May 29

I see my name in my soup [names: part 4]

  “I should not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew as well.” ― Henry David Thoreau, Walden   Is everything about me? From antiquity, there was power of knowing the names of things and naming the world. The way we use names and identity are changing in society, […]

May 27

Names that shape us [names: part 3]

People’s fates are simplified by their names. Elias Canetti   The preceding discussion, I was looking at the mythical and historical power in naming things. There is another aspect to this discussion is the power our names have over our actions: consciously and subconsciously. “…(there is) the sometimes quite grotesque coincidence between a man’s name […]

May 26

The Power of Naming. [NAMES: PART 1]

The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names.–Chinese Proverb Naming things is a human need. Naming things is how we make sense of the universe. Francis Bacon popularised the saying ‘knowledge is power’ and there is power in naming things.   It’s a common genesis story across a range of different […]