When we were establishing the settings for our new computer, we had to choose both a short name and a long name for the domain or whatever it is that the computer uses to identify itself. Michael chose the short name, which meant that I got to pick the long name. This was a tough choice, and I felt rather put on the spot, as it was very late at night and I did not feel creative enough to come up with a clever and original yet comprehensive enough name that fully captured the nature of this machine. I tried to work in as many ideas as I could to represent what this bastion of our house and home would mean to us, but Michael stodgily whittled it down, and the final result was a computer name of Focht Arches at Pemberly-upon-Rivendell.
I was fairly delighted with this, albeit not without a lingering regret at not having gotten a chance to work Narnia and Star Wars in there too. But the glitter began to wear off quickly. The long name auto-filled in every time I tried to type my last name in online fields and such. This was a bit annoying. The long name is also the one that comes up in every application, so that the chess game always reads 'Computer vs. Focht Arches at Pemberly-upon-Rivendell,' a rather unwieldy title bar.
In the end, the long name had to go. The long name and short name are now the same. It's boring, uncreative, and easy to guess. But it's also practical and oh-so-much more efficient. This is why we have nine whole months to think about what we want to name our children.
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3 comments:
God forbid you be practical and efficient. ;-) Remember the things we used to get excited about in the name of efficiency? I remember John discovering how to shave 11 seconds off labeling a ream of envelopes, ah there can be beauty in the practical. Very Bells on Their Toes, don't you think?
I'm missing the significance of "Focht Arches." If that's the name now on the computer, it's safe from my guessing, anyway.
-- SJ
Oh, our house has several arches in it, most notably in the entryway and in the pass-through between the kitchen and the front room. It's a nice look, very elegant, and it exactly captures what I like about our house. Much more clever and elegant than 'Grey House With White Trim.'
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