Richard Feynman: Knowing the name of something and knowing something

I have been inspired by Richard Feynman for some time now. I wish everyone one in this country learns from him. One great nugget of wisdom from this great man, my favorite is, “The Difference Between Knowing the Name of Something and Knowing Something”.

See that bird? It’s a brown-throated thrush, but in Germany it’s called a halzenfugel, and in Chinese they call it a chung ling and even if you know all those names for it, you still know nothing about the bird. You only know something about people; what they call the bird. Now that thrush sings, and teaches its young to fly, and flies so many miles away during the summer across the country, and nobody knows how it finds its way.

Once you get the true meaning of the above, it is one of those Nirvana moments. Have a look at the video below to hear it it his own words.

Farnamstreet has is little more atriculate on the same here.