I’ve often heard that “A name says it all.” Is that true? I once watched a documentary about peoples’ names and came away with the understanding that our names actually affect the behavior of others. Don’t get hung up on the fact that I watched a show about this. The point is, names matter. They sway our judgement. In fact, in some cases we make judgements solely based on a name.
Why, oh why, am I dedicating an entire post on this issue? Well, it all comes down to this . . . what are the Barkers going to call their chicken coop? I know. I know. It’s not a life altering decision, but it is one that may (or may not) stick. Now that the Coop du Jour is finished, we would like to paint a name just above the door. The kids want to personalize it. Plus, I think it would be a nice touch.
Back to naming this beautiful building . . .
Do we wait and see how the chickens manage their coop? The Tidy Tudor. Or name it based on chicken personalities? Loco Pollos.
Or do we just go ahead and give it a name? And what kind of name do we give it? Serious, utilitarian, funny, satirical?
We spent some time talking about this the other night. The kiddos took over and decided to draw names out of a hat. They got Matt and I to do the same (sigh). We each put in two pieces of paper with our name choices written down. The lucky winner was Tristan. Yay! He chose one of his names”The Big House”. He said the coops sort of looks like a little prison. Matt wasn’t too keen on that name. I think it’s funny, but Matt is adamant that he did not build a prison. He built a home. End of discussion. Amen.
So, we all decided to do another drawing. But Tristan just couldn’t pick a name to write down. Well, that’s not completely true. He just didn’t have our stamp of approval on any of the names he chose. For instance, “The Big Red Microwave”, “Annie’s Diner”, and “The Big Square Building with Chickens in it.” Yeah, so those didn’t make it into the hat. Can you see why?
On the other hand, Gavin wanted “The Happy Rooster.” Sounds good to me. I think that may be a very fitting name in the future. He also chose “Cute & Cuddly.” Okay, see this is where we have problems. We have two extremes here: Cute, fuzzy peeps versus chicken torturing area 51. We also had to put the kibosh on “The Chicken Ranch,” because this isn’t Las Vegas after all. “Why not mom?” Try explaining that one to your little sweeties.
Matt’s choices were all in Spanish. Some of them didn’t even make it to the brainstorming paper. The boys vetoed those at once. Nothing in Spanish. Nothing in German. Nothing in Greek. English only. Sheesh! What bossy kids! I’m not sure I actually had any of my choices written down. I just kept yelling them out, like I was going to overwhelm the crowd with my wittiness. Not in my house.
In case you are curious, here are some of the names that didn’t win anyone over:
Poultry Palace
The Big House (as described above)
The Looney Bin (great name for a duck house)
Chick Magnet
Casa Roja
Casa de los Huevos
Chicken Shack
The B & B
The Breakfast Club
Hen Hotel
The Happy Rooster
The Happy Roost
Cute & Cuddly
The Big House
The Big Red Microwave
Chick, Chick, Chick
See what I mean?
Ciao –
Chicky Momma