How important is it to call things by their right name?
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@evan It must depend on the immediate context. In the context of computer programming, naming things correctly is pretty important.
From my archive: https://mastodon.social/@rperezrosario/114299594067375167
Thanks to everyone who replied. Here are my thoughts:
@evan
Brother, I have a clinic appointment with my mother tomorrow. Please help me if you can. 🙏 We really need your support.
Calling things by their right name has been a prominent part of movements I've supported or been an active participant in for a long time.
Which letters should be included in 2SLGBTQIA+, what name to call occupied places, how we refer to software released under particular licenses.
Names frame how we think. They are declarations of power -- who gets to say what the right name is. They are expressions of ideas and ways of thinking. They can mean a lot.
But calling something by its right name does not in and of itself right the wrongs. Calling the attack on Gaza a genocide is correct, but that has not stopped the genocide. Right thinking might aid in right action, but it is not a substitute for right action. It is the beginning of justice, not the completion of it.
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One person's "right thing" can be another person's wrong thing. Or the "right thing" can differ depending on the context. And sometimes the "adequate thing" is sufficient.
@evan but why do you ask?
@evan somewhat important because a key part of communication is negotiating a common vocabulary. I like to try to meet people where they are and only correct/advance if it's relevant and they're interested. If an elder asks me to help them with their "iPad" and it's an android tablet I'm not going to give them a 15 minute lecture on the difference. I'm gonna fix their tablet
@evan
I went with somewhat important. If what you're calling by name has feelings, very important. If I blank on the name of the freezer, it doesn't have feelings, and I'm inclined to call it "the...uhhh, upper fridge?"
@evan Bimodal answer for me. I tend to think of people as a subset of "things", and calling people by their right name (ie, the name they want me to use) is extremely important. But for non-people things, humour and whimsy often triumph over correctness. For instance, the thing on the chocolate box telling you which one is which is the "instructions".
@evan I think the nature of this question comes down entirely to directionality. Who gets to decide what names are right and what names are wrong. I think the state has the least authority to naming. Individuals have a right to naming themselves but not necessarily others. There is also intent inherent in all names. Is the name being proposed with an intent to improve some situation or is the name indented to cause confusion.
@evan things? somewhat important.
people? VERY important.
@evan what is this "the[ir] right name" (singular) of which you speak? What makes you believe that there is ever only one right name for a thing?
@jdlh well, do we agree that there are better names and worse names for things?
@evan only from given political or cultural frames (points of view).
Was the survey worded to call attention to the inherent plural nature of naming, by leaving out that answer on purpose?
@jdlh I don't know if I have a heart generous enough or a mind flexible enough to say that calling someone a racial slur is better from a white nationalist point of view. There is an absolute scale on which that kind of name is worse precisely because of the POV it's used from. I realise it's an extreme example, sorry.
@evan Very few things, if any, have only one name and names themselves come a variety of types. Sometimes names have overlapping potentially contradictory meanings (I’m looking at you “fruit”). I’d say it’s important to use the right name in the right context for the right purpose but there’s usually a lot of wiggle room in there. The big thing is to avoid confusion.
That said when it comes to proper names of people, the right name is the one they choose to use, period.
I can't tell if this is accidental Confucianism or subversive Confucianism.
@chewey that is an important name to discover!
Politicians and mass media are constantly mis-using words, characterizing people and events using words not appropriate to the situation. Their messages are often in direct conflict with what we can see with our own eyes. If we want news we can trust, I say "very important". Otherwise, we're stuck with whatever the propaganda machines wants us to believe. This is a global issue.
Depends what those things are. Organs during a surgery? Very important! Background characters in an anime? Not so much.
