Rogue Revel - What does it mean?
In yeterday’s post I explained why I had to change the name. But what’s with the new one? Why did I choose it? And what were the other contenders?
I will start by saying it has taken me weeks to come up with a name I love even half as much as Gypsy_Riot.
When considering alternates I found some words I loved for their meaning, others for the way they sounded, and a few for their foreign flair. But I also was conscientiousness about choosing something that people could pronounce, spell, and remember.I didn't want to lose potential future 'sisters' because they couldn't call to mind the name of that website they heard about over coffee, or drinks, or during the chaotic fourth quarter of their kid's pee wee football game. Ultimately, the limitations listed above are why I rejected the choices below.
querencia (n) “the place where you are your most authentic self, from where strength is drawn, where you feel at home”
hireath (n). "A homesickness for a home to which you cannot return, a home which maybe never was. The nostalgia, the yearning, the grief for the lost places of your past." I first heard this word while watching the really engaging documentary "Nothing Left Unsaid: Gloria Vanderbilt & Anderson Cooper" and promptly recorded it in my journal.
mangata (n) "the reflection of the moon on the water" (I'm a Pisces - what do you expect?)
nefelibata (n) "cloud walker one who lives in the clouds of their own imagination and does not obey convention"
orenda (n) "a mystical force present in all people that empowers them to change the world or to effect change in their lives"
While coming up with a new name was super annoying, it did lead me to discover the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows (which I love - I mean the title alone! ) And who hasn't been waiting all their lives for a word to describe "the strange wistfullness of used bookshops [vellichor]" or the "desire to capture a fleeting moment [morri]".
Check out the video below for more words we seem to be missing in our lives:
One of my favorite words from The Dictionary of Obsure Sorrows is sonder (n): the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own—populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and inherited craziness—an epic story that continues invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with elaborate passageways to thousands of other lives that you’ll never know existed, in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passing on the highway, as a lighted window at dusk. John Koenig gives a Tedx talk hyperlinked below where he discusses the dictionary of words he created.
I've also included the Sonder Video for your viewing pleasure:
So after deciding that as magical as they were, none of the above words would work for mostly tactical/practical reasons I thought I had the answer: She_Riot!. I loved the emphasis on the feminine since this group is only open to women, it still had the visual aesthetic I was looking for, it was easy to say, and memorable. It did kind of remind of She-Ra: Princess of Power (not that I’m convinced that was a problem). Up until just a week ago, I was committed to this new name, but the word rogue kept popping into my head, and, ultimately, my love for alliteration won out!
It was going to be Running Rogue (but would people think this was a runner's group?) then Rogue Revolution (but the word revolution, while a fav of mine, is so freakin long). How about short hand - Rogue Revol? I don't know - would people get that it was meant to be an abbreviation?
Feeling frustrated, I went to dictionary.com hoping it would spur some new ideas as I poured over definitions and synonyms for words I already love, but couldn't use because they are already part of names for other organizations which I follow (Wanderlust, Rebelle Society, etc.)
When I looked up rogue I saw a definition pretty much in line with what I think of when I use the word:
Rogue (adjective): no longer obedient, belonging, or accepted and hence not controllable or answerable
What I often don't think about is the verb form of the word which means "to uproot or destroy". Part of my vision when I created this program was to emphasize finding value in the process, in the chaos: the destruction and rebuilding. The whole phoenix from the ashes thing.
This led me to revel which means "to take great pleasure or delight" and "boisterous merrymaking or festivity".
This seemed like a fit - Rogue Revel embodies celebrating ourselves and what we've survived, or are surviving, and one another. To willingly dig ourselves up and out in order to bloom again (am I mixing too many metaphors here - probably!) But I get it, and I hope you get it...
and decide to join me in the journey.
