B3 (BiblioBroads Blog) Challenge!
Recently, while strolling the seawall with my tender hunk of manflesh, he and I spied a sailboat named Jet Lag. Lame, non? We began discussing the trials of naming a sailing vessel.
Naming a boat is not a matter to be undertaken lightly. Our current author touches on this topic briefly. Some of the sailors call the ship the Willamena rather than William (because ships are supposed to be female?) or sometimes just The Will.
What would you name your boat?
Before you answer here are some things to keep in mind...
The Explanation Test: How often do you want to explain what the name means? Bizarre Greek gods, in-jokes and Latin phrases (Carpe Diem doesn’t count) usually fail this test. The non-cute test. How sappy is the name? Puns, childhood nicknames and in-jokes usually fail.
The Brevity Test: Imagine repeating your boat name three times, especially if calling “mayday.” Are you hoarse yet? .
The Hubris Test: If you’re racing, try not to pick names like Magic Bullet unless, of course, you have that one-in-a-million boat that actually wins every time.
The “Been There, Done That” Test: There are a lot of Obsessions and Odysseys out there already.
The Omen Test: Naming your boat the Money Pit one day may mean you need a new engine the next.
The Radio Test: Lots of words that look good — Slithery, for example — sound pretty funny on channel 16..
Mine would be Marlow (after the protagonist in Heart of Darkness).
Naming a boat is not a matter to be undertaken lightly. Our current author touches on this topic briefly. Some of the sailors call the ship the Willamena rather than William (because ships are supposed to be female?) or sometimes just The Will.
What would you name your boat?
Before you answer here are some things to keep in mind...
The Explanation Test: How often do you want to explain what the name means? Bizarre Greek gods, in-jokes and Latin phrases (Carpe Diem doesn’t count) usually fail this test. The non-cute test. How sappy is the name? Puns, childhood nicknames and in-jokes usually fail.
The Brevity Test: Imagine repeating your boat name three times, especially if calling “mayday.” Are you hoarse yet? .
The Hubris Test: If you’re racing, try not to pick names like Magic Bullet unless, of course, you have that one-in-a-million boat that actually wins every time.
The “Been There, Done That” Test: There are a lot of Obsessions and Odysseys out there already.
The Omen Test: Naming your boat the Money Pit one day may mean you need a new engine the next.
The Radio Test: Lots of words that look good — Slithery, for example — sound pretty funny on channel 16..
Mine would be Marlow (after the protagonist in Heart of Darkness).
posted by Mata Hari at
9:14 AM
4 Comments:
Okay. This is a lot tougher than I thought. The first one that came to mind was "Molly Brown". During the sinking of the Titanic off the coast of Newfoundland on April 14, 1912, Molly Brown was reputed to have rowed for seven and a half hours and delivered herself and her passengers to safety on Lifeboat No.6. She became known as the only woman to have done so and thus earned her nickname "Unsinkable". Later, she liked to entertain the society leaders with her picturesque descriptions of the event. Many historians, however, consider Molly Brown's story to be only a legend.
If I won alot of money in a poker game, I would buy a boat and name it "Royal Flush" or "Full House". But then that is just cheesy.
I guess calling it Mayday would fall under the Omen section.
I checked out the website www.10000boatnames.com. You can type in a name and it will list boats that have that same name and where its home port is.I started with some names. There are two Mata Hari's listed. One is registered in Seattle and the other in Pender Island.
Yes, people have named their boat Minnow. No Titanic but there is a Noah's Ark listed. I think I would name mine Scout (after the six year old tomboy in "To Kill a Mocking Bird").
By
Miss Tee, at 4:43 PM
Oh, I like Scout! That's a goodie. It took me forever to come up with Marlow. I knew it had to be a lit-related name. Although Bobby MaGee could do as well. That notion of a remembered romance that squeaks with nostalgia...but that may come under that omen business again.
By
Mata Hari, at 6:29 PM
I would name my boat "Ripley" for two reasons:
1) Everything I name has to be a good movie reference (just ask Arizona or Jonesy).
2) Sigourney Weaver makes my insides feel all squishy, especially at the end of Alien.
By
Temple, at 9:42 PM
Actually, I like the name Squishy for a boat. I think that would rate right up there with Slithery for the radio test.
By
Miss Tee, at 4:51 PM
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