June 16, 2005

Name That Name

Browsing on Craigslist late in the afternoon. Some employer or other here in San Francisco is looking to hire a naming specialist. "Huh," says I, "How hard can it be to sit around and name stuff?" Pretty damn difficult, it turns out—you can take a test here: "The brand ignorant might find some of [these names] cold, obfuscating, random or even clumsy — but in truth they are carefully constructed to communicate very specific ideas." I flubbed every question. The test comes from a blog run by a real, honest-to-goodness naming specialist, who also offers up this post, where we learn that "John Doe" is "G. Raymond" in Canada and "Seán Citizen" in Ireland, and this post, giving us the perfect name for the perfect poultry product.
-- Brad Plumer 8:55 PM || ||