What's in a name? As it turns out, significant meaning and power

What am I but my name? I’m fairly sure the first time I heard the phrase was in a radio conversation with Trevor Manuel when he explained why he felt it was important to sue the EFF for defamation (he won).

- Stephen Grootes

The phrase echoed strongly in my mind last week as I was looking through my [e-mail] inbox. There was the usual mix of press releases, opinion pieces and press conference invitations.

But among it all was something slightly different — an oped piece - and as I read the email it came with, my eyes widened when I came to this paragraph: “I would like to know if you would be interested in endorsing, cosigning or giving your signatory for this oped.

“If this is a topic that would be of interest to you, please do let me know, including any relevant costs or your preferred rate for your participation in this written piece.”

I had to read that twice. It looked to me like someone was offering me money simply to put my name to a piece they had written. That made me read the piece, which was clearly an attempt to stop our government from tightening its stance on Taiwan.