I've chosen to write this first post about my blog's title, "Ad Blogicam." The name itself is really not all that interesting. It's simply a play on words on the latin name of the "fallacy fallacy" (argumentum ad logicam), by which a conclusion is deemed incorrect because it was achieved fallaciously. How I got to naming it this way is only marginally less boring, but it is certainly eye-opening, and definitely worth a post, I would say.
The first issue any blog creator is faced with is naming his or her blog. It is quite daunting to reduce the future outpourings of one's psyche to one or two savvy words. And this frustrating search for inspiration is made only more so by the fact that any witty title idea one does come up with has likely already been pre-empted by hundreds of others on the internet. The hunt for originality in our expanding digital world isn't an easy one.
For that reason, I began my adventure of sharing in the blogosphere by butting against the difficulty of physically sharing the blogosphere. I dearly wanted my blog's address to match its title, but every title I attempted to use was met with the words "Sorry, this blog address is not available" when I entered the corresponding address. This was of little wonder, because according to this infographic, 31 million Americans have blogs, 35% of which use blogger. I'm going down the same path as 10 million other people right now!
With each news that someone else had created a blog address before me, I visited his or her blog to find out more about this like-minded individual, and get a better sense of what fate was reserved for my own blog.
When I tried the name "Blog Jam," a good description of my state at the time, I came across this two-post-long existential examination, cut short nearly 15 years ago. "Why should I write anything? Who will read this?" followed by "what do I say?" - any blog writer has been prone to the same questions.
This incarnation of "Blog Jam" was more successful at first, but lost popularity as the author took to a bi-annual rate of blog updates. Nonetheless, you'll find him to have quite a good taste in music.
My immature side came out when I considered the name "Bloggy Style," only to have this title idea shut down by yet another pre-existing blog. My frustration was shared by one of the commenters on the first and only blog post: "If you aren't going to use the blog name, can I have it please?"
Next, I tried the name "Blogic," thinking it would fit with my taste for philosophy and logic puzzles. Instead, I found myself foiled by this terse affair, which boasts three updates to its name, and hasn't seen a new post in ten years.
At this point I was growing quite tired of these reverse plagiarisms, and in desperation consulted a Wikipedia list of latin phrases, in the hopes that no one else would be pedantic enough to turn to latin for punny blog titles. A quick "command+F" of the prefix "log" (to which I planned to cleverly affix a 'b') found me "ad logicam," which I was confident was a winner. I was only half-right, as even the current name is shared with this enigmatic Russian creation. Luckily this time, not a fellow blogspot domain.
The name isn't too bad. It has the nice feature of having no letter repeats (except for an uppercase 'A' to a lowercase 'a,' which doesn't really count), something I find strangely satisfying. It also contains "cam," which would make it a fitting name if I decided to one day pair it with a vlog.
Looking back, I'm quite happy I went through this, even if all I have to show for it is a meandering first post and a silly blog title. It really helps to treat even minute challenges like these as learning experiences, and certainly makes them more fun to go through. After all, I made it past the hurdle of finding a title, something a previous version of myself might not have done. Derek Muller, author of the excellent Youtube channel Veritasium, recently posted this video, which helped me change my attitude about the obstacles I face. Perhaps you will find wisdom in it too!
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