An awesome essay on the philosophy of names and our brains

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/03/whats-in-a-name-part-3/

Good heavens, the philosophy is thick and gooey in this, the third part of a brilliant essay from the NYT about names and naming by Errol Morris.  Naturally, it’s marred by being stuck with the stupidest and most common headline about any story related to naming in the slightest way.  

(As those of you who have read my naming blog, Mark: My Words { http://gunnion.tumblr.com/ } already know, there are only two headlines allowed for stories about naming:  What’s In a Name? and The Name Game.  You can review the evidence at my post from November 9, 2011, found here: http://gunnion.tumblr.com/post/12575359165/whats-in-a-name-the-name-game-of-course. )  

However, beyond my terminal crankiness about this incredibly lazy journalistic convention, this essay is truly mind-boggling, reminding me of the headiest days of my philosophy classes at Northwestern back in the early 80s. As I read through this (very long, and apparently only the last third of a series) essay of very thick prose, I was often paddling as hard as I could to keep my head above water.  But even without perhaps understanding every nuance of his conclusions, my namer’s mind was definitely reeling at some of the Morris points makes.  

If you have a long lunch hour today and want to stir your mental pot, try reading some of this thick, tasty stew of contemplation and philosophy on the notion of names, naming, proper names, and what they actually mean to our struggling, human brains.  

When I was a minor-league rock star for a few years in the late 80s, my stage name was Junglebook, because, since I was a wee lad, I was a big fan of Rudyard Kipling’s “Just So Stories”.  I also loved the old Disney animated version of Kipling’s story.  

Now I see that one of the iconic beasties of that book, the crocodile (who gave the elephant his long nose), who graced the cover of the paperback I grew up with, is now honored by having a newly-discovered species named for the author.   

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-17446330

(And yes, I’m familiar with the basic sociological criticisms of Kipling.  My ears still ring with publisher Jennifer Joseph {Manic D Press - http://www.manicdpress.com/}’s cry from the stage during a Junglebook gig {she was briefly the sax player in my band}, “Kipling was a Fascist!”) 

Heh. 

As jokes go, they say puns are the lowest.  And to namers, near-name puns are especially egregious. 

Still, when one of my friends - I think it was Jim Hoadley - started wishing everybody a Happy Tony Levin last January 1st, I just thought that was the Best Joke Ever. 

So, with only a couple more days to go when I can get away with it, let me wish all my readers a Happy Tony Levin!  - one more time. 

http://youtu.be/WcbSjC9tAY8       <—Tony Levin Band

http://youtu.be/C-tv6_8Bf1Y           <—King Crimson, Stick by Tony Levin

http://youtu.be/im3AUiCGqnk         <— John Lennon w/Cheap Trick and Tony Levin

http://youtu.be/eembaLCU44A         <—Peter Gabriel, bass by Tony Levin

http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2011/12/02/real-pacs-steal-names/

The Sunshine Foundation built a PAC NAme Generator to make fun of the cloying, intentionally obfuscating names used by Political Action Committees.  Turns out they weren’t snarky enough - some PACs started using the machine, apparently.

KISS Meets Archie

No, really.  And this is a great example of how Trademark works in the US. If there’s no chance of confusion between the corporate entities, then they may both use the same word as a trademark.  And no-one will confuse these two!

http://thedisneyblog.com/2011/11/29/oil-company-renames-itself-pixar/

          vs.                        ?!?

Great idea, as part of a fundraiser for a fantasy writer, Cory Doctorow is participating by auctioning off he name of a character in his sequel to Little Brother:

http://magick4terri.livejournal.com/1023.html

characters from Windling’s “The Wood Wife”