Extemporaneous musings, occasionally poetic, about life in its richly varied dimensions, especially as relates to history, theology, law, literature, science, by one who is an attorney, ordained minister, historian, writer, and African American.
Monday, August 31, 2015
NAMES HAVE NUANCES
NAMES HAVE NUANCES
Does a difference in names endue a given thing with a different character ?
Is the sun no less the sun because of its name in the different languages of man? What of the moon, the earth, or any river, ocean or sea?
What about you and me?
If today, I am Saul and tomorrow, I am Paul, am I substantively different?
What's in a proper name?
Capitalization for one thing.
Yet we do not capitalize sun, moon, or earth. However, we do capitalize Missouri, Miami, or John Doe. So, we make the lesser thing of implicitly more consequence than the greater thing by its mere capitalization.
Names have nuances, to be sure, but that fact should never detract from their substance.
Focus ever on substance and accord no names' nuances either primacy, prejudice withal.