Tim Pennings: What’s in a name? A rose ...

Surely, words clearly have a power — even a life — of their own.

What the f**k are you reading? I assume you fully understand the sentence I just wrote. A thought — in particular, a word — has passed surely and exactly from my mind to yours. You may well have mouthed the word as you read. All legit since I didn’t include the middle two letters.

But writing the actual word is taboo — in fact, not even allowed. The word itself has potency even more than its meaning.

We make similar use of the phrase “the N-word.” We use that phrase since the word it replaces has a power of its own. Somehow, just making those vibrations in the air, just putting the ink in that particular pattern of letters is the source of the trouble. When I was in junior high, one vocabulary word I learned was “niggardly” — meaning miserly. It has an entirely different etymology from the racial slur, but because of the similarity of pronunciation, its use causes trouble.

Tim Pennings

Interestingly, a word itself may be more objectionable than what it references. My mother wryly observed that the prudish Dutch of her home in West Michigan were more offended by the “f-bomb” word than by the action. Remember the lyric from the musical “My Fair Lady”?

Professor Henry Higgins observed, “The French don’t care what they do actually, as long as they pronounce it correctly.”

“Sticks and stone may break my bones, but words will never hurt me!” is a bit of childhood wisdom which is, in fact, false. Certain words — just the words themselves — pack a punch.

Some words originally considered legit become tainted because they are associated with things which, if we are honest with ourselves, are undesirable. Hence “graveyard” has been replaced by “cemetery.” “Nursing homes” are now called “senior assisted living.” “Crippled” became “handicapped” became “disabled” became “challenged.” Most recently (on NPR, of course) I heard another phrase, “adaptive sports” to signify sports that have been adapted via the use of tools so that folks with a disability can participate. And yet a new name — “parasports” — has been coined to refer to them.

When I first came to teach at Hope College, I also took the position of “Head Resident” in a “dormitory.” But by the time I left five years later, I was a “Resident Director” in a “Residence Hall.” I often wondered if someone earned their Ph.D. in something or another by arguing for that change.

The words we use date us and also sometimes show that what goes around comes around. My mother never changed from the phrase, “colored people” (a habit which rankled my father). I grew up with “Blacks” and “African Americans” with which I am comfortable. But, the current phrase, “people of color” becomes almost indistinguishable (in terminology but not in effect) from Mom’s generation.

I recently read that many of the common names of animals and plants are being renamed so as not to offend. “Gypsy moth” is now “spongy moth.” The Audubon Society was involved in many of the changes, but then, ironically, it got caught in its own quagmire because of its own name; John James Audubon apparently owned and sold slaves.

Blood-toil-tears-and-sweat Winston Churchill appreciated the power of words. The original code names for the British D-Day beaches were Gold, Sword and Jelly (as in goldfish, swordfish and jellyfish). But Churchill, a veteran himself, thought the word “jelly” had insufficient dignity to inspire courage and sacrifice, so he renamed it “Juno.”

Of course, Shakespeare, the master of words, weighed in. “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet.” Yes indeed, Juliet knew all too well that if the last name of her lover had been “Smith” rather than “Montague,” life would have been — rosy. She fell in love with the man without knowing his name, while her parents rejected the name without knowing the man.

Shakespeare may not have been surprised had he recalled the Jewish Torah — the Third Commandment, in particular. The other commandments forbid harmful activity, but the Third concerns itself with the proper use of words — giving due honor to the word representing the creator Yahweh. Indeed, John the Apostle took this understanding even further as he began his gospel: “In the beginning was the Word .. and the Word became flesh …”

Surely, words clearly have a power — even a life — of their own.

— Community Columnist Tim Pennings is a resident of Holland and can be contacted at timothy.pennings@gmail.com. Previous columns can be found at timothypennings.blogspot.com.