Saturday, August 23, 2008

What's in a name?

Should I name my kayak?

Here are the names I have come up with:
1. Bidadari, means angel in Bahasa Melayu.
2. Soda Gembira, means happy soda in Bahasa Melayu. Because the kayak is red.
3. Lorelei, a siren in German mythology.
4. Eos, Greek Titan, Goddess of the Dawn.

Comments?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

By way of an excessively verbose reply: Did the previous owner name that kayak?

My E68 I purchased as the much-used, several years old Pouch North American importer's demo boat. So, having heard that it is supposedly unlucky to rename a boat, I exchanged emails with the seller who told me he had never named that particular kayak.

Of course, in my religious tradition, belief in or concern with luck is discouraged. Still, I was happy to find the slate blank.

In my experience, most things name themselves, so, like a twelve-year-old playing at something he read about in a book, I set off with the boat on a vision quest. Goal to learn the kayak's name. I encountered a variety of flowering vine the blooms of which exactly matched in color the E68's faded red deck. Some Internet research at home later, and I had the plant's name, trumpet creeper, but I preferred and used its Latin name, campsis radicans.

fullmoon said...

I had named all my kayaks because they are dear to me. It gives me extra attachment when I refer to something by name. With a name, fullmoon also writes itself in travels.

Besides naming, a 'tradition' is to pee on (we deliberately miss...) the kayak on the first paddle. Gd luck, if you believe.

Wanderlust said...

Er... thats a unique tradition.

Anonymous said...

What is Bahasa Melayu?

Wanderlust said...

It means Malay Language.