Presumably the Kindle and Matchbook names are designed to evoke book burning, unless there is an alternative interpretation I have missed. Matchbook = taking a match to a book, i.e. burning it, just as you should use your now-obsolete paper books as kindling. To me, book burning has terrible connotations, even though no actual book burning is being done (although it does seem encouraged by the naming). Perhaps I am alone in this regard.
For what it's worth, the official explanation from its namer is this [1]:
"Jeff [Bezos, the CEO] wanted to talk about
the future of reading, but in a small, not
braggadocio way. We didn't want it to be
'techie' or trite, and we wanted it to be
memorable, and meaningful in many ways of
expression, from 'I love curling up with
my Kindle to read a new book' to 'When I'm
stuck in the airport or on line, I can
Kindle my newspaper, favorite blogs or
half a dozen books I'm reading.'" ...
Kindle means to set alight or start to
burn, to arouse or be aroused, to make or
become bright. The word’s roots are from
the Old Norse word kyndill, meaning
Candle. “I verified that it had deep roots
in literature,” adds Hibma. “From
Voltaire: ‘The instruction we find in
books is like fire. We fetch it from our
neighbours, kindle it at home, communicate
it to others and it becomes the property
of all.’”
No, I don't really see that. When I hear Kindle, I think more of nurturing, or beginning a fire. A fire needs to begin somewhere, just as an idea must. And must also be nurtured, and built upon, something that books do. That's what I see when I see "Kindle". Matchbook just goes along with the fire theme of Kindle, as publicfig said.
I agree. Specifically, the names remind me of a quotation by Victor Hugo - "To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark".
Comments
Presumably the Kindle and Matchbook names are designed to evoke book burning, unless there is an alternative interpretation I have missed. Matchbook = taking a match to a book, i.e. burning it, just as you should use your now-obsolete paper books as kindling. To me, book burning has terrible connotations, even though no actual book burning is being done (although it does seem encouraged by the naming). Perhaps I am alone in this regard.
For what it's worth, the official explanation from its namer is this [1]:
[1] http://www.printmag.com/article/who-named-the-kindle-and-why...No, I don't really see that. When I hear Kindle, I think more of nurturing, or beginning a fire. A fire needs to begin somewhere, just as an idea must. And must also be nurtured, and built upon, something that books do. That's what I see when I see "Kindle". Matchbook just goes along with the fire theme of Kindle, as publicfig said.
I agree. Specifically, the names remind me of a quotation by Victor Hugo - "To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark".