Nomenclator

Why ME? Why "Edgar Mousehat"?

Alright, I'll tell you; but just because you asked.

~ ~ ~

Once upon a time, a long time ago...

Software was being installed on my computer, and the registration information boxes had to be filled out. My friend said, we need a name. Give me a name.

Now, this is not an easy question for me at all ~ inventing an alias is not something I would choose to do on the spot. My mind flew immediately to all my dictionaries & thesauri & reference books, and I thought of all the research I would normally do before I dared anoint something with a name, and I was overwhelmed. I said, uh...

Exasperated, my friend said, any name. Any name will do.

And my first thought was of a dear old chum, a former schoolmate who had recently come back into town: Edgar.

My friend types in "Edgar" and says, last name?

I say, oh... erm... uh...

And, plucking the word out of the air like a musician might pluck an invisible string, my friends says: Mousehat. And thus Edgar Mousehat was born.

I was {and still am} impressed at my friend's ability to pluck names out of the air without agonizing over their deeper poetic significance. If I must name something, then I pore over reference books, anxious as a new parent, afraid that the wrong choice will curse my misnomered brainchild until the none~too~soon end of its sickly days.

Unfortunately, for all my trouble, names derived via this overthought process all feel/sound really pretentious. So, when asked for a name to blog by, I defaulted to one I already had. And I've grown to like the name "Edgar Mousehat" because I came by it honestly.

I've been thinking about my process of naming, because now there is talk of a domain of one's own; and I'm thoroughly excited, and a wee bit apprehensive, about naming it.

Maybe I'll invent a new alias; maybe it's time for "Ed" to go sleepybyes for a while...

~ ~ ~

The difference between the right word and the nearly right word is the same as that between lightning and the lightning bug. -- Mark Twain {Quote thanks to the wonderful Word-Detective.}

Posted by edgar at November 21, 2003 04:10 PM