There are no Synonyms - 1944

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b 0 S Y 1.' 0 V. Y h 3 #)

Tlio f i r s t man to w r i t e on synonyms a s p e c i a l book in the Western World o f our e r a , was the abb?^ G ir a r d . In 1718 he publish ed h is book and a l r e a d y d id he have to w r i t e on the wide spreaS o p in io n that f o r one id ea a o re a t v a r i e t y o f words could be used. Girard p r o te s t e d . His t i t l e i t s e l f i s a p r o t e s t ; 11La Jus t e a s e de l a Langue F r a n c a is e on l e a d i f f e r e n t e s s i g n i f i c a t i o n s des mots qui passent pour syn onlines" ; and i n the t e x t , he says ; I do n o t th in k th a t th oro i s a tru e synonyme in any language (Jo no c r o i s pas q u * i l y a i t de mot synonline dans aucuno la n g u e, P. XXX)?

In d eed th e r e a r e no synonyms? E v e r y name was an a tte m p t o f man to accompany the course o f e ve n ts with a w o rth y r e s ponse to the g i f t s o f t im e . The energy f l o w i n g through time m a t e r i a l i s e d in communal forms whenever he found the r i g h t names in which h is f e l l o w men c ou ld j o i n , in a common outcry o f f a i t h . In naming, Goethe has s a id , humankind proceeded as though the w orld was s t i l l to be c r e a t e d b y them together To name a p a r t o f r e a l i t y , means to t e s t i f y to n a n 's power o f common r e a l i z a t i o n . We cannot r e a l i z e a n y th in g in t h i s w o r ld without f e l l o w s h i p o f others? Earning always i s a p u b l i c a c t which the community must r e c o g n i z e . A name i s n o t a word. A name i s net a .thought? A name i s n e v e r a r b i t r a r y # When a*

From the Word o f Mankind? Volume I# 1? "Geist-Epochen^ ^Werke 39 p. 3.

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man g i v e s h is name to a woman, a p u b lic and p o l i t i c a l a c t i s enacted? In our g e n e r a t io n , f o r example, one o f tho few names which have the q u a l i t y o f a r e c o g n i z a b l e name, i s " s c i e n c e . " Money i s g iv e n anc. spont in tho name o f s c i e n c e , in lingo amounts. You could n o t canvass tho same funds i n the name o f s u p e r s t i t i o n i no?t even in the name- o f r e l i g i o n . In o th e r words, s c i e n c e , i s a true naiad; as we in vo k e i t , the a c t i o n throws a communal mantle, around many men's s h o u ld e r s . Under the c o v e r o f t h i s name, ono body i s formed, many s in s are com m it t e d , much good i s a c h ie v e d . Undor the name and in the name o f S c ie n c e , a body I s c o n s t i t u t e d behavirq: l i k e any bod y, but behaving that is to say having l i f e .

A man's r e l i g i o n i s i n the names which make him a c t i n common with o t h e r s . There i s no o t h e r r e l i g i o n . These names may b? p a s s in g , but in t h e i r time th e y are more i n c i s i v e and more p u b lic and more h is t o r y - m a k in g than a l l p r i v a t e r e l a t i o n s to a p r e t t y face or a blood r e l a t i o n , or to the a i r and the sky and the sun and the la n d . For the names d e c id e whether we r e s p e c t the s i s t e r in the woman o r seduce h e r as a female? They d e c id e whether we r e p o r t to V.ashing ton f o r d u ty , or r e t i r e to the back h i l l s when the d r a f t i s en acted ? I t i s tru e , that a l l the p r o te s t a tio n s o f modern man are to the c o n t r a r y * He i n s i s t s that words have no power, th a t words have l o s t t h e ir meaning, that this i s a l l v e rb ia g e or propaganda?

Yet w i l l he be judged f o r h is genuine r e l i g i o n . And t h is r e l i g i o n i s h is r e l a t i o n to the l i f e and death and r e s u rr e c t io n o f the s p i r i t as expressed i n those names which make him beh ave?

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For t h i s reason the b e l i e f In synonyms I s a h e r e s y * I t Is the c e n tr a l heresy o f our tim e?

I f any one word, may take the p la c e o f a n o th e r , language has become an-onymous. Without the n e c e s s i t y f o r id io m a tic speech, wo l i v e i n an a b s t r a c t and i n d i f f e r e n t frame o f a r t t h m e t i c s ? By l i s t i n g synonyms f o r each term, modern man has r e turned i n t o the limbo o f mere s u g g e s tio n s , i n f e r e n c e s , s tim u l y , h i n t s , i n s t i n c t s . We are i n limbo to d a y , the lim bo out o f which the r is o n C h r is t had taken the peop le o f our e r a , in the power o f h is name? Our langu age has become p re -n o m in a l, '' n a m e le s s , " a g a in * And the r e a d e r may remember t h a t the p r e h i s t o r i c a l h erd , o f the animal kingdom, alth ou gh endowed w it h speech , had no power to g i v e names? How cou ld the man who b e l i e v e s in synonyms s t i l l c r e a t e the f u t u r e ? The f u t u r e comes about o n ly when we b e l i e v e in the one th in g th a t i s n e c e s s a r y f o r a l l o f u s, now? And in the name o f Y.orld War I I , we have cooperated f o r now f i v e y e a r s . I f we had s l i c e d up t h is One Name i n t o synonyms, l i k e " Spread o f the World R e v o l u t i o n , " '' r e b e l l i o n o f A s i a , " " s u ic id e o f Europe, " " emancipation o f the c o l o r e d , " '' s e l f - d e f e n s e o f the \h ite Man," 11s e l f - d e s t r u c t i o n o f the Western N a t i o n s , " uthe end o f n a t i o n a l i s m , " '' War o f S u r v i v a l , " e tc ? , e tc ? , we would have s p l i t our e n e r g i e s ? Only by naming t h is war World War I I , c o u ld we s ta y u n ite d , r e p a i r the damage done b y W i l s o n ' s d e f e a t a t home, suppress the je a lo u s i e s between the c a p i t a l i s t i c and communistic A l l i e s , and stake out some frame o f r e f e r e n c e f o r the world a f t e r t h i s War? A l s o , b y the term, we c ou ld e n v is a g e the danger o f f l o r id

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War I I I ? There was no synonym f o r World War I I , e x c e p t b y those whom we fo u g h t and whom we had to d e s t r o y because th e y d id c a l l t h i s f i g h t w it h a d i f f e r e n t name. Because the Japs fo u g h t f o r c o - p r o s p e r i t y and the y e l l o w r a c e s , th ey were our en em ies. The names they used, proved i t to u s .

But the common man who always has known t h a t h is names are his r e l i g i o n , is teased today by the in te llig e n ts ia fo r his '' s u p e r s t i t i o n s , " The r e a l i t y o f the names " S c i e n c e , " and "World War," i s d en ie d b y our i n t e l l e c t u a l s * The whole academic world i s s u p e r io r to names. In f a c t , the whole am bition o f the academic w orld seems to c e n t e r on the atte m p t to s t r i p the w orld from i t s names. F o r , the a m b itio n o f the academic w o rld i s to reduce the world to i t s s t a t e w it h o u t names. And as we have been told th a t s c ie n c e reduces everything to i t s " r e a l " e le m e n ts , we a c t u a l l y have come to a c q u ie s c e w it h i t s c la im t h a t a l l names are i n t e r c h a n g e a b le and a r b i t r a r y . I t i s the constant toothache o f my existence as a c o l l e g e teacher th a t I have to read in e v e r y second or t h i r d paper some e x p r e s s io n o f our modern h e r e s y ? The f a v o r i t e exp ression i s : ?The terra " r e l i g i o n , " or " l i b e r t y , " has been a r b i t r a r i l y attach ed to th is or t h a t , 'O r, ttI s h a l l c a l l t h is a r b i t r a r i l y , L o v e . "

This suggests th a t one word i s as good as a n o th e r, th a t t h e i r choice i s more or l e s s f u t i l e because a r b i t r a r y , and wol*st o f a l l , t h a t a man who speaks o r w r i t e s , i s f r e e t o d e f i n e h is terms as he p l e a s e s , A l l t h i s i s u n t r u e ?

He who b e l i e v e s in synonyms and a r b i t r a r y d e f i n i t i o n s , d e secrates speech. Now, as w ith the to w n 's ga rb a g e dump, and

the s eptic tank, desecration o f dead words i s a necessary s e r vice rendered by the undertakers of the mental world, the c r i t ics? Faeces are f a e c e s ? And ce rta in words are due to d i e , in the ro t a tio n o f crops which we c a l l speech and languages? I t i s not wicked to desecrate words by looking fo r a synonym i f you know what you are doing? You are then passing the death sentence on one word, and t r y to c a l l another word in t o b e i n g . But i f you imagine, as most classroom -fed b r a in s do, 4that you always are in a p o s it io n in which you are the s u p e rio r o f the sacred names, then you are as funny as the boy who would t r e a t the whole of l i f e as a garbage heap and the c i t y dump, and a car cemetery. A r b i t r a r y d e fin it io n s belong in to the s c h o la stic e x e rcise s o f mere minds. H eart, s o u l, and body o f men, l i v e on the r i g h t word a t the r i g h t time?

We stay a l i v e by bein g g r a t e f u l to the r i g h t words spoken a t the r i g h t time? They go to prove that we are immersed in an ocean o f speech, form erly c a l l e d the s p i r i t , and now denied by the murderers o f consecrated speech, the people who c a r r y the desecrating business o f the c r i t i c s , o f the people in charge o f our sewer system, i n t o the f r o n t door l i f e o f the community.

Any pa rt o f language i s as r e a l as a d a is y or a v i o l e t or a pansy or a weed. You may have to weed your garden o f w o rd s. But that does not prove that words are u n r e a l ? Weeds, a r e , a l a s , most real? they cannot be treated as i n d i f f e r e n t or n o t existent? n e it h e r are the roses in our garden o f words man-made. To weed the ragweed and to cut o f f the roses r are r e s p o n s ib le actions and not at a l l a r b i t r a r y . They are p o l i t i c a l ac tio n s

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