The Evolution of Naming
October 18th, 2005
NewScientist.com has an interesting article about the evolution of language and how, when new objects appear in our lives, we somehow all end up calling it the same thing. The example they use is unwanted email. When it first started showing up in our Inboxes, people called it “unwanted mail” or “junk email.” And then one day we all started calling it “spam.” Have you ever wondered how that happens?
A group in France has developed a simple computer model “that reflects how people invent and share new words for objects: they constantly invent new words, yet can only use ones that others understand, so it keeps a lid on the number of words in use.”
Like I said, it’s interesting stuff. Especially if you’re in the naming and identity business.
Other posts by Spike.
Olivier Blanchard says:
“Platform Climber Composite Structure.” I liked it better when they just called them “monkey bars”.
February 21st, 2006 at 6:24 amGreg Spraker says:
How then does one understand “googling” something?
February 21st, 2006 at 6:25 amSpike Jones says:
Good question, Greg. I think (to their point) it goes something like this: When people first started using Google it was just another search engine. So people would say, “yeah, just type that into the search engine to look for it.” Or maybe even “look it up on Google.” As with our culture and wanting to shorten everything, people probably started saying “just Google it.” And on to “you’ve been Googled.” So the point is that everyone knew that when Google came out, not everyone knew about it, so we had to explain it to others a little. And now that most everyone is familiar with it, you can just “Google it” and people know what you’re talking about. Make sense?
February 21st, 2006 at 6:25 amDJ Ranier says:
Snarkhunting.com (one of the blogs of Igor International) is currently slamming Seth Godin’s “The New Rules of Naming.” Interesting comment by Zedzian slams IGOR themselves for blowing it big time with their own name. The cobbler’s children have no shoes?
February 21st, 2006 at 6:25 am