Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)

Juliet:
What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.

                                                       William Shakespeare

Shakespeare was saying names are not important to the truth.  Who would argue with the wisdom of the Bard.  I do. I believe names are important. What you choose to call things is both subjective and explicit.

Here is a cautionary tale of how names can go wrong: (the names have been changes to protect the rights of the innocent)

My dog is named Bambu, but my wife does not like that name.  I don’t know why. She is the perfect wife except for that one point on which we disagree. I do not mind the name, so we compromise. The dog’s name is Boo. It’s my dog. This is truly MY first dog of all the dogs in my life.  There is a pecking order. If I am out of town she is Sandi’s dog… and we are both out of town she is Taylors dog. At any rate she is a great dog.

I can take Boo anywhere because she is so well mannered.  And I actually like doing that. On a walk down Ventura Blvd. today there was a mother pushing her sleeping baby in a stroller.  The dog was curious and wanted to see inside the stroller. My well behaved dog got too close and did not respond to the snap of the leash. I tried again but she was still not responding to the leash. I yelled her name in an authoritative tone.
“BOO”

This scares the lady in front of me who screams. This wakes the baby who immediately begins to cry.  I really was not trying to scare anyone. Sometimes you have to yell at your dog no matter how well behaved. 

And that is the point.  If I had named the dog “Excuse me” the lady would have turned around politely and said, “Yes”.  But I sneak up behind her and yell… BOO she naturally starts a domino effect that cannot end well.

Names are important.

As you were

Jay