Matt Russell and I were musing in the office yesterday about the possibilities with February's first story theme: Relationships. We were talking about inanimate objects and why people name them.
Of the core staff, George Wietor has named his wireless router "BELMONDO" (that's right—all caps) after Jean-Paul Belmondo, a prominent French actor who got his start in the '60s. I once had a TV antenna shaped like a pterodactyl and named her "Calliope" because of a fondness for pterosaurs and musical names. Matt "I'm not a nerd" Russell declines to engage in such hijinks.
In movies, on TV, naming and labeling are often presented as the next level up. You name a dog and you've given yourself a way to distinguish it from every other dog. You name your car and you've begun a dynamic relationship. Naming is a form of commitment, a way of bringing things to life.
In the video above, I walked around Wealthy asking various characters what inanimate object they've named and why. Since I have no skills in Flip Cam editing, the obliging subjects were:
- Mark Rumsey, East Hills Neighborhood Association
- Lori Slager Knorr, The Sparrows Coffee, Tea & Newsstand
- Ryan VanderMeer, Urban Pharm
- Alayna Forrester, Brick Road Pizza Company
- AJ Penninga, The Image Shoppe (get this: his title is http://stuntman)
So, Grand Rapids: What have you named and why? Why do we name things? Answer all or none of those questions. Pose your own questions. We want to know!
Comments
I call the roomba cheerio.
I call the roomba cheerio so I can yell at it. Clean up this mess Cheerio!
Baby Blue
I named my road bike Blue Bird the day I got her inspired by one of my favorite Kerouac haikus:
Black bird- no!
bluebird- pear
Branch still jumping
But on our first long ride together when she really stretched her wings for the first time I called out, "Welcome to the world, Baby Blue!" And I think that was her way of telling me that's what she'd rather be called.
My MINI
I call my 2004 MINI Cooper, Midge. Midge was Barbie's (as in Barbie doll) best friend back when I was a kid. Midge had red hair and since my MINI is red, it seemed perfect that she is Midge.
So many names
Almost all of my objects have names. My computer, external hard drives, etc.
My Car is named Calvin and my Mountain Bike is Hobbes, because they travel together in the summer and go exploring to new places.
Also one of my External HDs is named Voltron.
Making things feel human
I give inanimate objects names in order to develop a more tangible human-like relationship with them. The list of this undertaking is below.
My car: sleek betty (origion unk)
My IPOD: Step to my beat (I was feeling hip-hoppy and wanted to throw down)
My external hard drive a) what cha want b) what cha need (both names were a result of drinking and deciding that one would store my files no longer needed... an archive essentially, and the other files I need access to). I would like to point out that artistry was not used in the creation of these names.
So as you can see, I have formed a relationship with these objects; I converse with them, use their names in questions I pose to them...etc.
Great question Denise. :)