[446] in Vegetarian_Support_Group
Re: what's in a name? me culpa, etc ...
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Richard J. Barbalace)
Fri Mar 24 12:32:40 1995
To: elsiedee@MIT.EDU, vsg@MIT.EDU
In-Reply-To: Your message of Fri, 24 Mar 1995 11:33:40 -0500.
<9503241633.AA22920@vongole.MIT.EDU>
Date: Fri, 24 Mar 1995 12:31:14 EST
From: "Richard J. Barbalace" <rjbarbal@MIT.EDU>
Well, if people really can't stand the name "Vegetarian Support Group",
I'll suggest "Vegetarian Interest Group". This implies no more than
that the members have some interest in vegetarianism (or vegetarians).
(It also has a potential nerd aspect which I'm not going to explain. ;-)
It does not:
o Exclude non-vegetarians.
o Exclude students.
o Exclude non-activists.
o Exclude non-dinner-trip people.
Below I've listed some of people's suggestions (including the silly
ones), with my reasons for disliking them:
Vegetarian Study Group
We don't study vegetarians, or even vegetables, or even
vegetarianism.
Vegetarian Student Group
This would sound exclusive against non-students.
Vegetarian Education Group
This sounds like an activist or political group. Activism
should be saved for SETA, ARF, etc.
Students Against Living Animal Destruction
Silly. More precicely, I wouldn't want to be on a list
that has a silly acronym as a name. Nix *anything* like
SALAD, TOFU, HAM, TLA or TLC (Tofu Lovers Anonymous or TL
Club), the Anti-Spam Union, TIDE (Tofu is Delightful Eating)
etc. I know vegetarians who hate each of these foods, and the
list name itself should not be a source of "humor" (read
"ridicule").
VOMIT - Vegetarian Outreach at MIT
I'd also be against the word "Outreach". This has worse
connotations than "Support" (which has no bad connotations
to me) and sounds activist/political.
VERDI - Vegetable eaters, real dining intelligence
Not everyone on the list is vegetarian. This is insulting
to non-vegetarians. We need to remember both of these issues.
VUE - Vegetarians United to Eat
Not everyone on the list is vegetarian. Not everyone is
interested in eating together.
VCR - Vegetarian Community Resource
We're not quite a community, which would sound like we are
open only to those in our community. I like the word
"Resource".
VEGAMITE - Vegetarians at MIT
This is a trademark, has been a topic for comedians, is a
mispelling, is exclusive against non-vegetarians, and follows
the really OVERUSED and pathetic "foo at MIT" names.
Take care.
+ Richard
