`What sort of insects do you rejoice in, where you come from?’ the Gnat inquired.

 

`I don’t rejoice in insects at all,’ Alice explained, `because I’m rather afraid of them — at least the large kinds. But I can tell you the names of some of them.”

 

`Of course they answer to their names?’ the Gnat remarked carelessly.

 

`I never knew them do it.’

 

`What’s the use of their having names the Gnat said, `if they won’t answer to them?’

 

`No use to them,’ said Alice; `but it’s useful to the people who name them, I suppose. If not, why do things have names at all?’

 

`I can’t say,’ the Gnat replied.

 

***

 

Lewis Carroll