Question of the Day

[ayoub]

What's in a name?

Comments

[ccupguy.livejournal.com]

Letters

[dishapeaches.livejournal.com]

Hehe. Cosigned.

[alainn-mactire.livejournal.com]

Everything and nothing.

It depends what it means to us.

I changed my birth name despite the fact no-one ever actually used it anyway, simply because of its connotations...it meant "God has judged" and given that mother was a hellfire and brimstone type who told me I was a sin against God, you can imagine what that felt like.

Had my early life taken another path, I'm sure I would have loved my given name.

Then there's my pen name / the name of this journal, which means "beautiful wolf".

Then there's my legal name, which only ever seems to get used on official documents. I like it, but it's sometimes odd to hear it used out loud.

Finally, there's my name. The nickname that both Marc and Dave have independently come to use - Pixie. Somehow feels more me than most of my others, lol.

edited for spelling mistakes...I have butterfingers this afternoon.

[kingdavey.livejournal.com]

I was about to say a mixture of vowels and consonants

[cmerun12.livejournal.com]

Seeing as I'm off the pain meds right now...

A name is the power of all things. (Or so it was once believed) If you name something, you have the ability to create, control and destroy it.

In today's business world, your name IS your reputation. (Ok, so it's like that in other venues, too.) How someone greets you, how they say your name, the inflections your name is given shows how that particular person views you.

See? We're back to that whole create, control and destroy issue. It's just not quite as literal as fiction would have you believe. Or is it?

[mighty-rontor.livejournal.com]

Everything if it's unique to the object, nothing if it's just a noun. All nouns are actually just specific pronouns except for unique names, like Jesus, the Hindenburg, Snoopy, or Neo. There are only those. Everything else are just messianic prophets, zeppelins, dogs or The One.

"that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet..." A Grand Prix hybrid red tea rose is just a rose, but when you call it "A Scarlett Carson", it becomes a unique, important plot device in V For Vendetta and cannot exist in any other circumstances. It puts on the illusions of gestalt much like V himself. V is just Hugo Weaving in a mask, but the suspension of disbelief is such that there can only be V.

I might be rambling at this point.

[chiropteraclan.livejournal.com]

it's another box. ;) What....you changing to Alf then? :P

[the-ravyn.livejournal.com]

It's not what's in a name, but what you put into it.

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

LOL!

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

See... I really like my given name... And names are everything to me :)

[donnickcottage.livejournal.com]

As every word on earth is interpreted by the observer in their own way, it means absolutely nothing in reality. It's all for the person who has it. If it means something to you than it means something.

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

It's a powerful thing indeed... :D

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

:D

Good rambling though :D

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

LMAO!

No way! :P

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

Very true :D

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

Well said :D

[fox-bard.livejournal.com]

Lots.

There are books dedicated to it.

One comment box could not take the strain.

Edit: By the way, I now believe there really is more to a name than just what your imagination gives to it, although I consider that is the more personal and profound expression of it.

Consonants and vowels reverberate with sound, just like musical notes. And like music, the combinations of sound have an impact upon the ear, which will transmit another set of ideas to the listener, who will respond favorably or not depending on his own personal and cultural biases.

Sound is energy. So if the energy resonates well with you and through you and fills you and makes you feel happy and good, then you are in harmony with yourself.

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

:D

Very true...

And the edit has opened my eyes just a touch... Thank you! :D

[seegwa.livejournal.com]

As a person that grew up with a very unconventional (and still pretty rare) name in a very conformist world, a name means a lot. I've never thought about changing it either, even when I most wanted to conform and be like everyone else.

The irony is that my mother named me this name and yet, wanted me to conform. ;)

[seegwa.livejournal.com]

Beautifully explained!

[spacedlaw.livejournal.com]

Mmm... Letters?
:)

[fox-bard.livejournal.com]

Thank you. ^___^

[fox-bard.livejournal.com]

That's part and parcel of being a Bard, really. Words do not just end on paper. When we read, we usually 'hear' the words in our head as they paint the images in our imagination that the author wishes to convey. And you don't even need to be able to hear. Even one who is deaf can feel the vibration of sound.

The world works on vibrations as nothing is truly static on an atomic/molecular level, and vibration is an energy that gives off sound, even if it is beyond our frequency of hearing. The sound of thunder or a low flying airplane gives off such vibrations as to make a house shake and things rattle on their shelves. A super high pitch can shatter glass. We can't hear a dog whistle, but canines can, and they respond based on their own experience to being summoned in such a way. A person who slurs is taken for drunk or stupid (no matter how intelligent they are), while one who speaks concisely and clearly is considered intelligent for the price of being intelligible - even if the they're dumb as a box of rocks.

Learn the subtleties of sound, and you can go a long way in controlling and shaping the world around you.

[evergladesqueen.livejournal.com]

few to many letters. OH!
hee hee
*hugs*

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

It is very true that intelligibility as seen as a sign of intelligence...

It's one of the reasons why I've had to temper my cockney accent :D

[fox-bard.livejournal.com]

Ditto on my home-grown Baltimore accent.

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

LOL!

All mothers want their kids to conform, even if it's just a little... :D

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

:D

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

:D

[childeofloki.livejournal.com]

A description.

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

Yup... :D

[heardthatnoise.livejournal.com]

What a wonderful way to explain a name. :)

[heardthatnoise.livejournal.com]

Everything, how you view the world and how others see you. I connect someone to their name - even if it's not the 'traditional' definition of the name I will see them in that particular word.

For example, were I ever to meet and befriend another Ayoub, he would always be #2 to me. That's because you've already filled in that space and taken that descriptor for yourself. Either he has to deal with it or he has to get a nickname. ;)

Seriously, though, to me your name is who you are and what you mean to me.

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

:D

Yup... Names are very powerful... :D

[katamphigorical.livejournal.com]

A vague identifier.

Random trivia: I never call anyone by their name unless i'm trying to get their attention. I think the names i've repeated the most in the last year are those of whom serve me drinks. o_0

[suburbiadaze.livejournal.com]

absolutely nothing but connotation

[chiropteraclan.livejournal.com]

Thank goodness! Oh hey....I just noticed. :D

[empatia.livejournal.com]

My name means "Pure one"...:)

I think a name is something you build, something personal that you can shape and make memorable.

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

LOL! :D

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

:D

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

It's an identifier in so many ways... Take a look at fox_bard's answer... :D

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

:D

Snuck up on you there :D

[chiropteraclan.livejournal.com]

Stealthy! :P I always call you Ayoub in my mind anyway, so I guess I was already used to "seeing" it. :)

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

:D

That's wonderful! :D

[fox-bard.livejournal.com]

Thanks. ^__^

[eternalxwhisper.livejournal.com]

What fox_bard said! ;P

[ayoub.livejournal.com]

:D

He's a great guy :D