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What's In a Name?
North Miami Beach, FL January 7, 2001 Aaron H.
Schectman
THINKING ALLOWED
Essays on issues, ideas and reflections on the times. Published now and
then, Opinions pro or con are welcome.
WHAT'S IN A NAME?
To Bork, The Crapper, To Boycott
What is, after all, in a name? If you steal my purse you steal trash, but
if you steal my name.. These words say it all and it is instructive how
people's names become part of our language.
To be a Hitler, a Napoleon, a Caesar, or a Samson you go back through
history recounting the slayer of thousands, yea millions. These names
describe their deeds. To be a Black Jack Pershing or a Dwight Eisenhower or
a De Gaul you have to be a military personage who participated in liberating
besieged Europeans. To be a Manson or a sniper you are an assassin.
To be an Eastman you are associated with cameras. To be a Buick you dealt
in cars. To be HP (or Hewlett-Packard) you are connected with printers. To
control the world diamond supply you are named DeBeers.
But, to Boycott you stop dealing with a supplier or a service. You enact
what some Boycott did over a hundred years ago and perform as he did and get
perhaps, the same results. If you "Boycott" someone you punish him. You
try to get him to stop or change and by not dealing with him you bring him
around. Most of us learn to shut up and stop being angry when someone does
not have to be dealt with.
Mr. Crapper put his name to the flush toilet. He reveled in the success he
had each time someone availed him or herself of his invention.
To "Bork" someone is to try to prevent an appointment. We may see Borking
of Ashcroft and others who have been "Bushed". What do you think?
Carol's Evaluation:10 out of 10. Carol also says: See NY Times, Week in
Review Jan 7, 01. P 4.
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