ONLY TELL PEOPLE WHO WILL RESPECT THE NAMES
This snippet was sent to me yesterday, forcing me to scan the Internets trying to figure out where it came from:
I have a magical name that is spoken with only very few others and when it is, I know those who speak it respect the message the name promotes.
I found the site, but I'm not going to link to it. Mainly because I don't want to peeve any Wiccans that might trace the link. Angry Wiccans scare me. (Yes, the snippet is one interpretation of the method Wiccans use for naming... You can find more by clicking
here.)
Two things about this idea:
- I love the thought that the "official" name of a thing or person doesn't really matter and it is only the magical name that counts. Makes me want to say "Oh... the name of that hotel Stokefire just branded isn't the real name. I can't tell you the real name, but rest assured that if you knew the name you'd respect the message the name promotes when you said it." There is a huge amount of power in keeping something secret - and it is one of the reasons why names - or almost anything - when publicized tend not to live up to expectations. Remember when Dean Kamen was going to blow the lid off of human transportation? Do you know how far you have to travel to find a Segway showroom? Secrets are powerful things - but in the business of naming you can't keep secrets... (or perhaps I just haven't figured out how to do it yet...)
- It's like those super exclusive clubs that no one knows about except the in crowd. The Wiccans could be on to something here. It's a bastardization of the scarcity principle. If you think something is rare or about to run out you'll value it more highly than something easy to get... so if we hide the name of a thing (so that people can't talk about it) maybe it will become so scarce that people just have to have it. It worked for the artist formerly known as the artist formerly known as Prince, in a way...
In the mean time (as I attempt to figure out exactly what I just wrote) I'll consider your responses to the following question: Should Stokefire get into the business of magical names? And can you be paid for magical names with real money?
