Soddy-Daisy?

 

Upon a time, my family traveled to the Berg of Soddy-Daisy.  Though we came not for to see either Soddy or Daisy, there we resided for some 7 days or perhaps a week while we adventured in that great city of Chattanooga.  

Our offspring were much interested in the name of the town.  It seemed likely that there was an interesting story behind this name.

At this question, I consulted Wikipedia.  Whilst I know that Wikipedia is neither completely exhaustive or totally accurate, it is quick and easy.  Quick and easy meaneth much to me, in these, my later years.

"It appeareth that there used to be two towns here, one named Soddy and the other Daisy.  In the fateful year 1969, these two merged.  Soddy may have come for a Cherokee word for a Native American people that dwelt here-abouts, whilst Daisy probably came from the daughter of a mining executive," I shared with my children from the writings of Wiki.

"I think that Soddy-Daisy soundeth like to the name Saudi Arabia," my daughter, Victoria opined.  She began repeating the names one after the other -- Soddy-Daisy -- Saudi Arabia -- back and forth.  To me, the resemblance was scanty, but if you tried to say both with your mouth full of Pistachios, mayhap it would have been difficult to tell the difference.

It seemeth to me that humans are good at putting names on things.  It might be that this began in the Garden of Eden, when Genesis tells us that Adam named all of the animals and not satisfied with that, named his wife 'Eve' to boot.

Names are good for identifying people.  Whilst some may say, "You can call me whatever you like, just don't call me late for dinner," the reality is that it is awfully handy to have a specific handle by which you can refer to an individual.

At the same time, it seemeth that oft times names are used to pigeonhole people.  "Thou art a White Evangelical and so thou art..." or "Thou art a Mennonite and so thou believest..."

Of a truth, there is some veracity in these generalizations, but there is more danger.  It is easy to cease to see people as individuals and simply see them as members of group.  By affixing a name, we have made it possible to ignore the uniqueness of their lives and opinions.  More than that, some use such categories to pin the sins of others on innocent individuals.

Those who are members of any group are all created uniquely.  Even those who come from a place with as odd a name as Soddy-Daisy.