Storm of Thoughts

A Small Misunderstanding

Before launching my blog, I spent a lot of time trying to come up with a name. Something slightly meaningful, I imagined, and at least sort of catchy. Easier said than done, of course. (That photo, by the way, is of me brainstorming by the pool. You can tell I’m thinking hard.) To help, I went to the three people who always have an answer for everything (although I’ll stop short of calling them know-it-alls) – my parents and my boyfriend. (Possibly more on their know-it-all status at a later time).

I finally had a list of possibilities, which I was more than excited about. So I went, paper in hand, to Yahoo, where my site is hosted. (I will say, to be fair, that I love Yahoo – their features and especially their service are excellent. But anyway…)

I entered the first option: FlashFiction.com. (A name that came from scouring dictionaries of literary terms, looking for something that might fit. While not fiction, a blog does sort of fit the “extremely short story” category). Of course, it was taken, but the domain finder helpfully suggested another option: FlashCreativeAds.com.

I moved on to another choice, MyThoughtsExactly.com. This, too, was taken. Suggestion: SendMyThoughts.com. Both off-point and nonsensical.

Next: LetMeExplain.com. No again. This time the suggestion was closer, though still completely wrong: LetMesExplain.com. Yeah, that would go over well.

This went on for awhile. Yahoo turned FlashTalk into FlashDialogue, FiguresOfSpeech into TalkingFigures, and WhatAWasteofTime into PremiereWaste.

Eventually, I got tired of the process (and of having my great ideas shot down and then mocked). I typed, “InsertCatchyNameHere.com” out of frustration, only to find that those before me had similarly run out of ideas. The alternative? CatchyNameStore.com. I would not own that store, let me tell you.

At this point I was beginning to feel like Yahoo did not understand me at all.

I even tried “ICantTakeThisAnymore.com,” which, not surprisingly, was also unavailable. (Suggestion: YourThisAnymore. Huh?)

But the last one was my favorite. Before giving up, I typed in “ThanksAnyway.com.” You’re probably not shocked to hear that someone owned that one too. But this one prompted the suggestion: “PayAnywayUsa.com”

Well, now, that about sums it up, doesn’t it?

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