Why did I choose the phrase Critical Articles as my blog's name? It might sound a little odd at first. You may think that it's too broad, generic, or dull of a name. Maybe it conveys an academic or journalistic feel that isn't consistent with what I am trying to do. Well, few things are perfect, but I know I picked the best one.
The title of the blog had to have a matching Internet domain (e.g., .com, .net). This saves people the trouble of typing in or saying the dots when accessing sites hosted on services like Blogger or MySpace. Moreover, it feels great owning a little plot of land on the World Wide Web, even if it is an illusion. "CriticalArticles.com" was already taken, which is why I use the cool sounding .ORG domain. The .com version is an ad site based in the Bahamas. In the unlikely event you will ever repeat the domain "CriticalArticles.org" to an acquaintance, remember to emphasize the .org domain. Anyway, the insignificant downsides of the name are defeated by all the wonderful positives. For one thing, I like generic and dull names. Second, I didn't want to invent words or use obscure ones like Lycos or google, respectively. There is a prospective problem, though: people who don't speak English may not understand the meaning of the name. That's not a big deal, however, because my entries will be written in English anyway. What about translator software? I can only read one language, so I performed an experiment just now. I copy-and-pasted something from the Alitalia website into Babelfish for an Italian to English translation. What I got back was understandable, to a certain extent, but a stranded airline passenger would have no idea what to do if he or she read it on a bright red sign in Palermo International. Conversely, an Italian reader may likely have a hard time reading my site. I welcome non-English-speaking readers, but I had to make a choice.
A short while after thinking up "CriticalArticles.org", I discovered that it sounds alliterative to my ear. Pleasing sounding language, including, in my opinion, alliteration, is almost always preferable. Since my blog theme is quite general, the name couldn't be something like "LighterCollector" or "SciFiMovieReviews". Using my name in the title wouldn't work either; "Miky'sThoughts" has no meaning at all. It's not a terrible option, but I think it works best for celebrities and the like. Through such elimination, I came up with the name. As it turns out, "CriticalArticles.org" is pretty appropriate. What I will be writing here is, for the most part, critical writing. I will analyze an issue and come away with a conclusion or question. The word critical has other meanings too. It can mean unfavorable, for example, a critical person who always finds faults in situations. Critical can also mean, according to dictionary.com, something very important or dangerous; Imagine fiery activists writing blogs regarding some grave injustices that they feel everyone out there should know about as soon as possible. I will try to keep problems that critical out of my blog, but I find the idea a little amusing. As for the "articles" part, that's clear; the entries I post are articles of a sort. ...And there you have the explanation.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
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A friend who read this asked if my use of the word "alliteration" was correct in regards to the name of my blog. Here is my response:
I was also not sure about if the name is technically an "alliteration." Dictionary.com reads:
"The repetition of the same sounds or of the same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words or in stressed syllables, as in "on scrolls of silver snowy sentences" Hart Crane. Modern alliteration is predominantly consonantal; certain literary traditions, such as Old English verse, also alliterate using vowel sounds."
I was not intending to use the word alliteration in the usual sense as in "digging" and "dinner." I also did not use the word "rhyme" because the words do more than rhyme, and also do to the fact that one has an s at the end. The words both have the letters c, r, and i in them, although they aren't in the beginning of the words, and they don't begin the stressed syllables. Still, I believe "Critical Articles" is an alliteration in a broader sense because so many of the consonants and vowels match. I could not find a better word to describe the phenomenon. I'd be interested to know if there is one.
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