The Name Game: Who Knew Words Could Boss Us Around?

The Meta-Book Club wonders aloud: if names shape truth, what happens when the labels peel off — and who’s left holding the glue?

META-BOOK CLUB MEETING MINUTES

Filed under: Language & Fate, Rectification of Names, Nominative Irony

Location: The Gist and Tangent Pub, Corner Booth (beneath the crooked wall clock)

Topic: “The Name Game — Confucius, Nomen est Omen, and the Fate of Titles”

Present:

John St. Evola (Editor-in-Peril)

Anna Graham (Language Arts, Puzzles, and Word Games Correspondent)

Reynard “Rey” Pierre-DeWitt (Chaos Coordinator)

Paige Turner (Sub-Sub Librarian)

Cliff Languor (Cultural Critic, half-asleep)

The Accidental Initiate (quietly, with a half-smile)

Opening Quote (by Anna Graham, on a napkin):

“To name the world is to play with its strings.”

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Discussion Highlights:

John St. Evola (opening with a flourish):

“Confucius warned: if names are not correct, language will not be in accord with truth, and when language fails, nothing can be accomplished. Naming is not window dressing — it’s architecture. And then we land at the paradox of Martin Luther King, Jr. — a man born Michael King, Jr., renamed by his father after the German reformer. We call him the apostle of peace, yet riots trailed his speeches, and behind the polished myth were darker stories. Was his name a misnomer? Yes and no. As a rabble-rouser, the ‘Martin Luther’ part fit all too well.

And then, decades later, we get Rodney King — the man who, by trying to outrun a speeding ticket, sparked a city-wide inferno. His name was King, but his crown was a traffic stop, his kingdom a city in flames. And when the smoke cleared, his trembling plea — ‘Why can’t we all just get along?’ — hung in the air like the punchline to a tragedy only America could stage. Without correct names, Confucius might say, we stumble in the dark — but sometimes, even with the right name, we still crash into the wall.”

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Anna Graham (waving her crossword):

“It’s nominative irony. We chant the name, but we’ve papered over the man.”

Rey Pierre-DeWitt (grinning, hands lightly drumming the table):

“So maybe names don’t predict what we are — they just give us a stage. Call me Reynard and sure, I stir the pot — but not to steal the silver, only to keep the air moving.”

Paige Turner (gently tapping a hardback on the table):

“Of course, no discussion on naming is complete without The Echo of the Word: A Study of Names in Stories About Naming by Elfrida Quill.[1] A book about books that unravel the meaning of names — from Adam’s first utterance to postmodern metafictions. As Quill writes, ‘A name is the smallest story we tell about a thing; to rename it is to rewrite its fate.’”

The Accidental Initiate (quietly, with a half-smile, writing in his notebook):

“Perhaps names are the first enchantment we cast — not a trap, but a threshold. Some step over it knowingly; others cross without realizing they’ve entered another world. And yet, Confucius reminds us: until the names are right, the world can’t stand upright.”

Cliff Languor (half-raising his head, voice dry):

“Martin, Michael, whatever — the crowds still burned the cities… And let’s be honest, nobody was ever going to turn Al Sharpton into a secular saint. The man’s name sounds like a kitchen utensil, not a monument.”

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Final Toast (John St. Evola, lifting his glass):

“Before we adjourn, a brief exercise in nomenclatural correction — lest we drift too far from Confucius and into mere sentiment. Names, my friends, must fit the function, lest the function swallow the name.”

Anna Graham (flipping her notebook, smirking):

“I’ll read them. You all groan accordingly.”

John (with solemn tone):

“Martin Luther King, Jr. — born Michael King, Jr. Proposed corrections:

Martin Luther the Disrupter.

Michael the Unruly.

Saint of Unrest.

Brother Uprising.”

Anna (chiming in playfully):

“Or if we’re feeling delicate — Reverend Flashpoint.”

John:

“Rodney King — the man who set fire to a city by outrunning a speeding ticket. Proposed corrections:

Rodney Runabout.

Crowned Chaos.

King of Collateral Damage.”

Anna (dryly):

“Or perhaps, Sir Not-Quite-Getting-Along.”

John:

“Al Sharpton — the reverend of provocation. Proposed corrections:

Al Sharpened.

The Reverend of Rancor.

Sharp Tongue, Dull Ends.

The Agitator in a Suit.”

Anna (grinning):

“Or my personal favorite — Kitchen-Tool Crusader.”

John (concluding, with a wry smile):

“Confucius would remind us: name the thing properly, and perhaps we can get along. Name it falsely, and prepare for the fall.”

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[^1]: The Echo of the Word: A Study of Names in Stories About Naming by Elfrida Quill, a fictional but widely admired meditation on how names shape narrative, myth, and identity, beloved by the Meta-Book Club for its recursive charm.

Pull quote from Quill:

“A name is not just a sound we give to the world — it’s the world’s invitation to answer back.”

Moral of the Meeting:

“The first step in setting the world right is learning to call things by their true names.”