The Purpose of Naming Things!

Top of the weekend my friends! What is the Purpose of Naming things? It seems to be a big thing nowadays! However “What does it mean”? Let’s find out?

Well according to psychologists, naming a possession not only indicates affection but also triggers further bonding with that object! Also consider the fact that people who raise animals for food rarely name their animals.

“Naming also contributes to a sense of control”. When we name something, we take ownership of it. Our cars, for example, become extensions of ourselves.

The brain likes order. Naming things labels them. Labeling lets us store them away in an orderly fashion. Now we know what something is when we name it and ownership when we claim it! Hummm I see?

Here’s one of my favorite definitions of naming. We name to identify, symbolize, refer, describe, simplify, organize and, most importantly, to tame it! The song from Janet Jackson comes to mind. You know “Control”!! (Never want to stop)

Psychology Today put it this way! “Giving something a name makes it real, as well as something that can be communicated about, such as a constructive achievement. “I did that!”

However there is another, but more painfully and unfortunately destructive development that can come as a consequence of naming things. That is naming by coining a phrase for the purpose of legitimizing something that, with any thought, would be subject to repudiation. Such as such as drive-by shooting, or ethnic cleansing. You know stuff like that.

I wonderfully admire this quote from William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”!

“A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet”. Juliet’s reply “a name is nothing but a name and hence a connection with no meaning behind it”

She declares her love and tells him! She loves the person who is actually wearing the “Montague” name, and not the name itself, or the family it comes from. A Proverbs 22:1 reminds us “favor is true valor”.

The soliloquy serves to challenge the social barriers and prejudices that define people. You are already aware of the distasteful commentary we hear daily. To quote a saying from the hood “what goes around comes around”.

We conclude with a line from the movie “It’s a Wonderful life”. “An angel is sent from Heaven to help a desperately frustrated businessman see the value of his own life. It’s the Purpose of Naming things! Donut ever forget it!