Our favorite Snowball has bought herself a spinning wheel! And Wendy is getting a wheel too! Go spinners go! If you are thinking about taking the plunge, just remember the holidays are coming and you’ve been very, very good this year!
The new wheels have led to some discussion on the naming of inanimate objects. Do you name things that don’t breate oxygen?
I think we can all agree that stuffed animals and the like deserve names. But what about other stuff?
As you all know, I named my car Onslow — it is the very first car I have ever named. Up until Onslow, I thought it was odd when people named their cars . Somehow its strange appearance called for a name.
I have also named my spinning wheel Proud Mary. I named it right away, it never entered my head that it wouldn’t have a name. On the car ride coming home from MSWF that song was playing on the radio and I knew that this was her name.
What you may not know is that many of the pigs in my vast collection are named as well. Why name some and not others? It’s nothing deliberate – no policy or anything. Just some of those piggies need names.
What is the point of naming things that cannot answer? Am I frivilous to have named my wheel? I wonder if frivolity is the tie that binds my whole point together — the inanimate things in my life that end up with a name have a certain air of whimsy? hmm, will have to think about that ….. And I have just noticed that even though I have given these things names, the pronoun situation has not followed suit. The car is Onslow, but not him – my wheel is Mary, but not her. However, Martin is always him.
So how about everyone else ….. what do you name? (all you men out there: we already know what you like to name …. draw your attention away from your lap for the briefest of moments and see if there is anything else in your life that has a name!)
purlingswine 
I’m with you on the naming. My car is Xena, my laptop is Daisy, my cellphone is Victor, my spindles are Anya, Betty, and Sonia. Et cetera. And I’ve already named my wheel, which will be arriving today: Katarina.
When we leave the house, Ian asks me “Do you have Victor with you?” While he doesn’t name inanimate objects, I’ve sucked him in to calling mine stuff by their given names.
Every time you mention Onslow in your blog I grin. :-)
Wendy, it’s good to know that I’m not crazy! I can’t wait to see pictures of Katarina :) Unlike your Ian, the Boar is only with me so far as Onslow and Martin are concerned, but I’m working on him!
I’ve always named everything – every stuffed animal, every car, the spinning wheels both have names (Fiona and Loireag). When I was a teen and did a lot of babysitting I always thought it was sad when a child would bring me a favorite doll or stuffed animal, I’d ask what it’s name was and I’d get that puzzled look and “doggie” (or “bear” or whatever) as the answer…
The right name is very important in forging a relationship…
My computer has a name (Surfboard – if you’ve ever seen a 17″ PowerBook G4, you’ll understand), and my cello is Sebastian. All of my cellos have had names. As have all of my powerbooks… My teddy bear is Lancelot. My car it not currenly named…. other than calling it the not-mom car.
Worty and I named our twin Bernina 180e sewing machines Trixie & Alice; Alice being mine to reflect my loud mouth… My first wheel (a Babe plastc job) was named Whirly Girly. My Ashford Traveller (a somewhat more dignified wheel) is Whirly Girl.
Hmmmm, I guess I’ll have to give this christening of my wheel a bit more thought. My car is named Lucy (I got busted for speeding in it when it was new and as the cop pulled me over, my daughter said “Lucy, you got some ‘splainin’ to do” a la Ricky Ricardo) and my iMac is Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate (from the Dr. Seuss story “Too Many Daves”), so perhaps the wheel will have to have a name. Pam the Beancounter will tease me, though!
Snowball, pay no attention to our favorite Beancounter …. her teasing is merely the last breath of a woman about to go under …. it is only a matter of time before she succumbs to the allure of fiber!
Melissa & Amie, thanks so much for sharing your naming stories – the tales behind the names would make for good conversation!