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The Naming of Cats T. S. Eliot, 1939 The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter, It isn’t just one of your holiday games; You may think at first I’m
by bravura 4y ago
The Naming of Cats
T. S. Eliot, 1939
The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,
It isn’t just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I’m as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.
First of all, there’s the name that the family use daily,
Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo, or James,
Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey—
All of them sensible everyday names.
There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,
Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:
Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter—
But all of them sensible everyday names,
But I tell you, a cat needs a name that’s particular,
A name that’s peculiar, and more dignified,
Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,
Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?
Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,
Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,
Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum—
Names that never belong to more than one cat.
But above and beyond there’s still one name left over,
And that is the name that you never will guess;
The name that no human research can discover—
But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.
When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
His ineffable effable
Effanineffable
Deep and inscrutable singular name.
- thecupisblue 4y agoRelated - internet working group RFC, the naming of hosts (https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2100.html https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2100.html): The Naming of Hosts is a difficult matter, It isn't just one of your holiday games; You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter When I tell you, a host must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES. First of all, there's the name that the users use daily, Such as venus, athena, and cisco, and ames, Such as titan or sirius, hobbes or europa-- All of them sensible everyday names. There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter, Some for the web pages, some for the flames: Such as mercury, phoenix, orion, and charon-- But all of them sensible everyday names. But I tell you, a host needs a name that's particular, A name that's peculiar, and more dignified, Else how can it keep its home page perpendicular, And spread out its data, send pages world wide? Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum, Like lothlorien, pothole, or kobyashi-maru, Such as pearly-gates.vatican, or else diplomatic- Names that never belong to more than one host. But above and beyond there's still one name left over, And that is the name that you never will guess; The name that no human research can discover-- But THE NAMESERVER KNOWS, and will us'ually confess. When you notice a client in rapt meditation, The reason, I tell you, is always the same: The code is engaged in a deep consultation On the address, the address, the address of its name: It's ineffable, effable, Effanineffable, Deep and inscrutable, singular Name.
- swader999 4y agoSteve French.
- agentwiggles 4y agoI've always loved the mysticism around the Names of things. It shows up in fantasy magic systems, it shows up in religious texts, it shows up in political discourse, it shows up in just about any decent programming text. Because we recognize, as creatures of language, that names have real, true power. There is something so magical and cool about the act of assigning a name to anything, it shapes the way we think about that thing. In some of my favorite stories, finding somethings "True Name" gives you some form of power over it. That combination of sounds and syllables that lets you grasp something's essence, understand it, hold a whole abstraction in your mind at once - of course that would be something of great power! I also love the correspondence to mathematics. Think of Maxwell's equations for electromagnetism for an example, or the long quest for a "Unified Theory of Physics". Maybe names need not be words, exactly. Maybe names can be equations, or snippets of music, or any other lossless compression of some deep concept - where, by knowing the name, you gain an understanding of the whole of something without losing anything in the reduction. Anyway, spiritual mystical hokey pokey mumbo jumbo, I know - but certainly fun to think about!
- petemir 4y agoIf you didn’t read it yet, you are going to love “A wizard of Earthsea”. Edit: but you seem like you did.
- agentwiggles 4y agoI have not, actually, it's been floating around on my to-read list for ages. This trope is all over the place, but the main examples that were floating in my brain when I wrote this comment were The Name of The Wind and Unsong. I should really give Earthsea a read, been meaning to for a long time.
- petemir 4y agoThat’s great—now I have two more books on my list! :)
- 4y ago