What's In A Name?

Well, apparently quite a lot. It all started with the whole Capulet versus Montague debacle. Parents spend months, sometimes searching for the perfect name for their child. All of which, brings me to this... the name of my blog.

I did not name my blog. My male counterpart did. He created this blog for me while I was away somewhere with no Internet access. No, I was not in the depths of the jungle [but close enough]. Anyway, one night 'Him' asked me if I would like a blog. I said, sure, why not, but not now as I had no means of accessing it. But he said he would take care of it for me until I could.

So, using an old blog of mine, this blog was created. Now, I love 'Him' for doing this for me, but when I look at other blog names/titles, and they sound ever-so-clever and ever-so-witty, I sometimes want a clever and witty name too. But I will not even dream of changing something that was created by 'Him' for me. So, the name shall remain.

It does have a meaning to it, though. It goes like this... the Arabic meaning of my full name, Badriyyah, is 'full moon' [which is why I'm so round, or so I claim]. My nickname, 'Riyya', in the original Malay spelling and meaning, 'Ria', means 'joy'. Now, 'Riyya', combined with the 'Su' part of my blog name [which comes from my family name 'Suhaili'] makes 'Riyya-Su.' Now, when the 'Su' part is twisted and put in front of the 'Riyya', it makes the word 'Su-Riyya'. A word which has no meaning in that spelling, but in the original spelling of the Malay word 'Suria', it means 'the sun'.

So my name, which originally means 'full moon', has been cleverly played with to make the word 'sun'. Which is obviously the opposite of moon. Gah. I lost my point. Anyway, you get my drift.

In honour of 'Him', I will dedicate the 'sun' part to 'Him'. Because without 'Him', this blog would not have been created. Tadaaaaaa...

I like to sometimes look for the meanings that might not even be there. Why? Sometimes I like to pretend I'm pretentious. Go figure.

This reminds me of the time I had to present a short story we studied in class when I was in college. I don't remember the title of the story, or the name of the author, but it was one of those stories that was full of symbolism and hidden meanings. I got stuck with it because I didn't come on the day everyone chose their stories. Serves me right for missing class.

Anyway, there I was presenting, slowly explaining each symbolism in the story. When I was finished, I was bombarded with questions. Most of which I was thankfully able to fend off successfully. Then a boy in my class asked, "But what do the barking dogs mean?"

I said, "They were just being dogs. It doesn't have a deeper context."

He said, "But there must be a reason for the barking."

I said, "Well, they saw a stranger approach, and being dogs, they barked. It's just their nature."

He said, "I think there was a reason they barked."

To which I replied, "Yes. They barked at the stranger because the stranger was potentially trespassing on the property."

He said, "I'm sure there was another reason for the barking."

I swear, at this point, I wanted to set some barking dogs on him.

I replied, "Well, I've analysed it completely and am sure there is no other reason than it being their instinct to bark at strangers."

This was potentially getting tedious.

He said, "Well, it's a deeply symbolical story. There must be another reason for the barking."

I wanted to kill him. I wanted to strap raw steaks onto his body and throw him into a pit full of hungry Rottweilers.

My lecturer saved the day. He told the boy, "There is no reason for the barking apart from what she just said."

Hurrah.

Talk about looking for meanings that aren't there.