learning enlgish in ny with englishinny.com

In 1869, John Stuart Mill proposed his “principle of perfect equality,” in which he argued that the existing relationship between the two sexes was wrong in itself and the chief hindrance to human improvement.

            Well, we’ve come a long way since then. What with the Nineteenth Amendment, equal pay for equal work, equal civil rights in employment and fringe benefits, Playgirl and Ms magazines, and the psychological studies and their sociological implications that necessitate the bowdlerizing of children’s literature and school textbooks to eliminate the insidious, continued subjection of women.

            And then we had the hullabaloo about words in the language which include the word ‘man,’ like ‘chairman,’ ‘policeman,’ ‘congressman’ – you’ve heard them all. Such words undermine, or, more to the point, do not properly reflect the woman’s sense of human equality.

            The latest lunacy is the attempt to change surnames: Ms Silverman to Ms Silverperson. Yup, because the latter “more properly reflects a sense of human equality” than does the former. The request was denied by a State Supreme Court judge because, he said, “it would have serious repercussions perhaps throughout the entire country”: Jackson might want to be called Jackchild, Manning might prefer Peopling, and Carmen might insist on Carpersons. The judge dismissed the application as “inane” and “in the realm of nonsense.”

            You can judge for yourself the judge’s action, but it is not a new idea that words possess magical powers; words are magical in the way they affect the minds of those who use them. “Conduct and character,” said Huxley, “are largely determined by the nature of the words we currently use to discuss ourselves and the world around us.”

            The incident reminds me of a story by Heywood Broun called “The Fifty-First Dragon.” It’s about a young knight who dared fight dragons only after he had been provided with a magic word that would keep him safe. The magic word was “Rumplesnsitz.” By using the word, the young knight became a famous slayer of dragons. However, when he encountered his fiftieth dragon, he could not remember the magic word. Even so, he was able to slay the dragon. When he returned to his teacher, he told him what had happened. His teacher was glad that he had found out, for the young knight should now realize that it was not the magic word but the knight himself who had killed all those dragons. The knight could not believe the word wasn’t magic, that there was no such thing as a magic word. The teacher explained that the word had given him confidence; it took away his fears. If he hadn’t at first believed the word was magic, he might have been killed the very first time. The effect of the teacher’s revelation was devastating. When the young knight went out to kill his fifty-first dragon, he never returned.

            So… what’s in a name? Is Silverperson more magic than Silverman?

            What was it that Byron said? “The Glory and the Nothing of a Name.”

          Bill Reynolds