Not exactly the most original title, but it sort of goes with the theme.

Why The Fish Wrapper? Well, while trying to come up with a title for my new home on the Web, I thesaurused the word “journal” and discovered this synonym–I imagine the idea being a newspaper-type journal, only good enough for wrapping the fish in.

I thought this sounded like a nice, reasonable level of expectation for my first foray into the world of blogs.

I also like the possibilities that the other words suggest. For example, if we’re willing to play around with homonyms, rap can mean “to utter…sharply, vigorously, or suddenly.” Obviously blogs are about utterances, often spontaneous and sometimes deeply felt. Rap can also mean “to talk or chat in an easy or discursive manner”–another possible tenor of blog musings.

Wrap can mean “to engross” (maybe I’ll occasionally hit on an engrossing subject–no promises, though) or “to bring to a conclusion; settle finally or successfully.” I believe less and less in the possibility of final conclusions, but I guess they’re always a good goal.

And, finally, to fish out can mean “to get by artifice or patient effort; to ascertain, elicit (a fact or opinion).” I hope my blog will be more about patient effort than artifice–but, again, no promises! Also, it seems to me that the real purpose of blogs is to elicit responses and responses to responses (a true community of speech). Sometimes those responses will be facts, sometimes opinions–and, sometimes, it may not be too clear.

By the way, fish can also mean “a small flat piece of bone or ivory used instead of money or for keeping account in games of chance; sometimes made in the form of a fish.” A definition that has nothing to do with this blog (so far, at least), but I thought it was a cool fact.

Aren’t dictionaries fun!

Definitions courtesy of the Oxford English and dictionary.com (one old-school, one new)