What’s in a Name?

Okay – first off, thank you all for your well-wishes.  Really, very much appreciated.  Now that all is over but the shouting (and even that is over) TG and I are settling down and looking forward to a peaceful time together. Former life is closing out but it wasn’t all that horrific (remember:  March and I cackled, so it can’t be that bad!) – the end, though, was ….. ridiculously ridiculous?  Yeah, that.

But!  Before I forget, let’s do a bit of housekeeping (speaking of, gottatellaya:  NOTHING beats a ShopVac – nothing!  my fridge’s waterline sprung a leak and there are not enough towels, even in my house, to suck up the tidal wave – but…omgosh!  SHOPVAC! to the rescue.  2 things every householder (whether you own it or not) should have:  a cordless driver and a ShopVac  – even a tiny one. Bezos’s Place has a one-gallon one that could save your carpets, your floors, your neighbors’ ceilings…your sanity.

winner of The Core:  Neva.  gmail your evilauntieanitaAT, remind me what you’ve won and I’ll get it out to you.  I’m back to being in Relative Efficiency mode, so I can DO THIS!  😉

Okay!  Now..one of my sillier posts! “what’s in a Name?” – recently Phil Vettel (Chicago Tribune) listed his 50 Best Chicago restaurants.  I love those lists because Who Doesn’t Love a List?  But…

… sometimes, sometimes, lists can give you the giggles – and it evokes the persack opposite of its intent.  Reading Vettel’s list, the names of the restaurants, so evocative in a singular sense, started to sound …….silly…when listed.

 

Elske, Avec,Galit,Mako,Kyoten, Cabra, Entente, Beelzebub (okay, I made that one up) – anyway, it’s weird:  one name sounds elegant, hip, but a list of elegant hipness?  eh.

So, guess what?  Feels the same with perfume.  Thanks to the Internets, I can look at a whole slew of new, hip, ironic releases, and omg!  It gets downright silly (for me), like NST’s old contest Le Prix Eau Faux, where we had to make up a perfume’s name and backstory, the more absurd the better.  

Now, don’t get me wrong, as with the restaurants, it’s not about the perfumes.  It’s not even about specific perfume names (which is why I’m not mentioning any newer releases)s.  This is one of my psycho musings about how a LIST can make things sound ridiculous.  Am I losing it, here?  Nah.  Y’all know I’m right 😉  I mention ‘new’ but I suspect that Mitsouko, Fracas, Arpege……..nah.  Sorry.  They can beat the tar out of any list ever made!

 

 

Maybe I’m just …. hey!  GET OFF MY LAWN!

what do y’all think?  Can a list dilute a name?  Am I crazy? Indulge me with some crazy story of your own and I’ll have TG poke somebody with a pawnail for some goodies!

 

xoxoxo

  • HeidiC says:

    I don’t know — in Jehanne Dubrow’s lovely throughsmoke, a book-length meditation on the nature of scent’s power, she periodically lists 10-15 perfumes alphabetically (like, several As and Bs, then later a list of Cs, and so on through the book and alphabet), and the names are so lovely that they’re like a litany. It may also have that effect because she doesn’t name ALL the perfumes, just the notable ones with lyrical names that sound good together. So there’s some editorial choice going into the list, which may help it sound like music instead of nonsense.

  • rosarita says:

    Too tired to write a crazy story but I agree about lists and names and especially new names (unless they just grab an old name ie Dior Joy.) I’m feeling very hey! Get off my lawn! in general these days but yes, Shopvacs are awesome 🙂 I’m glad you and the girl are good, Ms A xxo 

    • Musette says:

      thank you, babydoll! It’s a ‘get off my lawn’ kinda time right now.  Dank, cold, crabby.

      Keep yourself comfy, sweetie!  

      xoxox

  • March says:

    Beelzebub….. deep red banquettes, everything’s Argentinian beef roasted all to hell, right?  😀

     

    • Musette says:

      and dark!  Y’know…we had a huge influx of Argentinian/Brazilian steakhouses in the Western ‘burbs (several Fogo de Chao(s)) and then…poof!  GAWN!

      I never did go to one – always meant to.  But omg!  I’d be on Metamucil for a month!  

       

      xoxoxo

  • Portia says:

    Hey Musette,
    It’s hard to lay down hard earned cash for a fragrance called Dog Dick Pink or Gardener’s Buttcrack unless the scent is overwhelmingly awesome.

    Current case in point. I Am Trash by ELdO smells beautiful. Couldn’t help but get some on me.

    Portia xx

    • March says:

      I actually thought of that one — ELdO has always been a challenger — remember Fat Electrician?  I Am Trash is a terrible name until you hear about the backstory, and then it’s ….. still a terrible name lol.

      I demand a lot from my fragrance, including that it not embarrass me if I have to mention it (looking at you, Tom Ford!  Also it was NOT effing fabulous IMO)

      • Musette says:

        I (may still) have a little scrab of I Am Trash in the M. Armoire – and now you’re gonna make me hunt up the backstory, aren’t you!

        ELd’O has never been on my radar.  I always thought it well above my Ironic pay grade.

        xoxo

        • March says:

          I Am Trash is, IIRC, made from left-over perfume aromachemical goo.  I’m sure there’s a more elegant description.  anyway they took the “trash” and made a new scent which I admit is pretty cool.  But that name, oy.  Who wants to put on I Am Trash every morning?

      • Portia says:

        For March,
        I bought Fat Electrician for Jin who is exactly that. He didn’t love it so I kept it for myself (that may have been the plan all along) and I chuckle whenever I wear it.
        Portia xx

    • Musette says:

      omg, Portia!  Dog Dick Pink (they ARE pink, aren’t they!?)

       

      xoxoxo

      • Portia says:

        For Musette,HA! Yes, they are. While I was at fashion school there was a lipstick called it that the girls in the class werre crazy about. It’s always made me laugh. Also, I Am Trash back story is not worth looking for because they talk the talk but aren’t giving alkl their IATprofits to Climate Change. The scent is well worth a sniff though.Portia xx

    • Amateur Dilettante says:

      ROFL! Every post, you say some phrase that is amazingly awesome! If anyone was to make  Dog Dick Pink, it would be ELDO. Someday I will visit Australia and I’ll have to track you down, hope that’s not too forward of me. 

  • Gina T says:

    I don’t think a list dilutes a name but I think some of the modern perfume names are just silly and stupid. They try too hard. And lack refinement and elegance. Many tend to be coarse or shock value.

  • Rina says:

    I’m so lost but glad you are ok…

    • March says:

      She was in a …. situation (annoying, not dangerous) where she thought she’d have to move immediately and we were scrambling trying to figure something out because her dog is huge and decidedly not welcome in many places with dog restrictions.  Then everything reversed and she not only stayed put but bought the house she’s living in.  I thought I’d get whiplash from the directional change.

      • Musette says:

        and through it all, Miss Girl was sitting in her Room, saying ‘get over it.  When’s lunch?’  😉

         

        xoxoxo

        • Mals86 says:

          Toss The Girl a treat for me, k? Hunter Doggle says hey. (He’s been plagued by possums in the yard over the last couple of weeks — I don’t know if it’s the same possum different times, or what — but they keep having the same standoff where one barks his fool head off and the other stands there hissing. Poor dog’s exhausted.)And I send you hugs.

          • Musette says:

            OMG!  He needs The Girl to come over there and tear that possum a new one!  Though I dunno how She feels about possums – she doesn’t bother about the squirrels or rabbits, figuring she can’t catch them anyway, so why even try….

            Thanks for the hugs!  I sho’ nuff do need all the hugs I can get!  xoxoxo

             

      • Musette says:

        and aren’t you sweet!  But let’s face it:  Jane is pretty much NOT WELCOME ANYWHERE.  

        though I still hold out hopes for Her and Fat S. 😉

         

        xoxo