We Go Together Like...

Picture: Jenna Ardell on Etsy

One of the hypothetical-questions-leading-to-silliness that I particularly love is "if you had your own pub (or bar), what would it be called?". Having had quite a few versions of this conversation over the years, bars tend to produce bad puns (and no, I don't count that as tautology - there are such things as good puns to be had...), while pubs produce "pairs of things"... Case in point:

• The Elephant & Castle
• The Pig & Whistle
• The Wig & Pen
• The Fox & Firkin (no really! I didn't make it up, it's in Adelaide...)
• The Moon & Sixpence
• The Elephant & Wheelbarrow (those elephants get around... maybe they're the pink ones. That take you home in the wheelbarrow after a few...) 
• The Cat & Fiddle

In investigating interestingly-named pubs, the absolute best one was The Cat & Custard Pot. For what it's worth, my favourite of the invented pubs has been The Goat & Compasses. The trick seems to be in finding things that sound like they could have some sort of historical reference or link to rhyming slang. But that they don't, and just sound entertaining. Not that there's anything that comes to mind as rhyming with compasses...

When pootling through blogs, I've found it interesting how it can feel a bit like being in a bookshop. And the title can be something that gets you curious and makes you want to look, especially when it's in a long list of site links. (There is also the occasional disappointment of a fabulously named blog which, once you get there, is just not at all your sort of thing, and nowhere near as whimsical as you might have been led to believe...). It started to become apparent that there are lots of blogs that are named for pairs of things as well. Sometimes pairs of similar things; sometimes contrasting ones, but probably mostly for a combination that sums up the blogger. Some of them paint the most lovely images before you even get there (and then carry it on once you start to read)... 

• Peonies & Polaroids 
• Nectar & Light 
• Snippet & Ink (sounds like two characters from a Dickens novel...) 
• Cachemire et Soie
• Concrete & Honey
• Cupcakes & Cashmere
• Wit & Delight
• Fig & Cherry 
• Cannelle et Vanille 
• Pictures & Pancakes
• Chocolate & Zucchini 

And, continuing the blog love, The Sartorialist (which sounds so definitive, even before he was), {Frolic}  (because it is so simple but so brilliantly evocative), and Tartelette (because it sounds so sweet but also really works, and isn't just a made up -ette or -licious. Although anything French seems to wear an -ette better than most. Perhaps the same idea as fur on the original owner...). 

Then, there was thinking of names. And for a perfectionist, that means getting blogged bogged before even starting out. Too many things that just feel like funny and appealing combinations of words stuck together, and not enough things that were succinct and memorable and meaningful and me and, and, and... 

• Gallumphing in Galoshes (but wellingtons are becoming the new cupcakes. Also, if you just make it Gallumphing Galoshes, it sounds a bit like something a superhero might use as a catch-phrase) 
• Galettes and Galoshes (sigh! gobble!) 
• The Penguin Epiphany (I think this is more of a concept than a title, though...) 
• Squirrelling Away 
• {Harrumph} (maybe the indignant, grumpy and cynical relative of {Frolic}...) 
• Talking in Capital Letters - Waltzes with Weasels (but then it's a short step to Dances with Wolves)

Ah, too many decisions. Time for a cup of tea and a good snooze. Well actually time for another dance class, having dinner and crashing in a heap.