I couldn’t agree more

“[S]training-to-be-clever acronyms department”

Project names are very important to me in a “the clothes make the man” sensibility.  I’d prefer to leave an application untitled rather than have a contrived or pedestrian name attached to it (which is why my EAD publisher app never had a title — nothing non-EAD-derogatory ever came to me).

Often, the name is the only part of a project that “works” (see:  FancyPants, CommuniCat etc.), so, in my mind, it’s important that it’s memorable enough that people (coworkers, mostly) pay attention to the initial pitch so you don’t have to explain its functionality every time.  When you are in the brainstorming/gathering-enough-interest-to-get-the-green-light phase, everything’s about marketing.  And, for me, that means a good working title.  I don’t like acronyms, usually, because I don’t think they’re terribly interesting (WAG the Dog’s acronym notwithstanding – I liked that one).

Anyway, “Jangle” was there before I was.  I don’t have to like the name to think the project is worthwhile.  Still, sometimes it pains me to spend all my time on a project that I had no influence over the title.  Silly, yes, but that’s why my pants are so fancy.


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6 responses to “I couldn’t agree more”

  1. Jonathan Rochkind Avatar

    Wow,it surprises me that jangle was there before you, because it seemed to have the characteric je ne se quoi of a Ross-given name.

    Umlaut, I am discovering, is hard for people that speak English as a second language. “Um-WHAT? Why is it called that, what is that?”

  2. Ross Avatar

    Hey, I’m not saying names with my imprimatur are friendly or descriptive.

    Jangle is actually a somewhat useful title, it’s generally memorable and easy to spell. Just because I don’t like it doesn’t mean that it’s bad.

    And Umlaut could be worse. When the name was changed from übeResolver, the title was originally just spelled “Ü”.

    It’s mostly just vanity, Jonathan, and when I don’t come up with the name for something I struggle with coming up with “clever” and “droll” riffs on it for things like blog posts and conference presentations. Umlaut, in that regard, is a freaking goldmine.

  3. Jonathan Rochkind Avatar

    Yeah, I actually like the name jangle, it’s not only memorable and easy to spell, but somehow seems related to what it does (although now that I say that, I can’t exactly explain why).

    I actually liked the name, and had chalked it up to your good sense for naming (not being sarcastic!), surprised to find out the credit goes elsewhere.

  4. Jonathan Rochkind Avatar

    And if it HAD been just Ü, I would have been forced to re-name it, but Umlaut is good enough.

  5. Steven Harris Avatar

    We’re trying to name our federated search. I loath acronyms, so I’m thinking something like “Ah Ha!” but too many 80s associations there. Then I think why bother? Does Amazon have a name for their search? Oh right, it’s “Search.”

  6. dan Avatar
    dan

    Jangle – Just another generic library environment – hmmm – not really

    The name was originally meant for something similar but different, however…

    How do you unlock something (even library data) – with a key – keys jangle – its the noise a bunch of keys make => it a keys-tone.

    I was gonna say something about the real mr bojangles, getting out of jail etc etc but that would be bullshot.

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