Place Naming

In the chapter “Naming Place” by Paul Cater, ideas of language and relation to place are explored with Australia as a case study. Cater discusses British relationship to Australia with Names and quotations of famous authors acting as a sort of evidence and says that perception of place is grounded in the language of the observer and reflected in the names given to those places. Carter seems to be highlighting a kind of metaphor for reality that is created by language, and with which people, through the practice of association, people describe the world. Carter says, in this passage: 

“…depended on a profounder assumption. It depended on the assumption that distinct ideas existed to be related. But how is a distinct idea defined, except in relation to other ideas?” (Cater pg. 403).

I found this reading to be odd, and, honestly, not to my taste. At most Carter seemed to be pointing out a kind of relativity created by language. This argument, though, is kind of bottomless. Once all things are thrown into relativity, then everything is. As he says, “how is a distinct idea defined” (Carter pg.403). While the ideas explored here were mildly interesting, it did not seem as what he was pointing out was much helpful in the wider discussion of Geography. I will freely admit that my view on this piece is not complete, as what I read was only two chapters out of a whole book.