NAMING MEOWSPACE

“A name…the pressure of a name… “
(from the 1980’s movie, “Pretty Woman”)

We are coming up on the anniversary of the registration of the name, “MeowSpace,” and it has since graduated to “MeowSpace®” (note the circled ® at the end of the word).

We have our “other” son, Gabe, to thank for naming MeowSpace. By “other” son, I mean that our son, Corey, the builder of the first MeowSpace®, grew up best friends with Gabe. Both being raised as only children, their friendship deepened to the point of them considering each other brothers, and as such, Gabe became our “other” son. He has since provided us with an “other” daughter-in-law, Jordan, and most recently, our “other” grandson, Malcolm. But I digress…

Berdell and I were having lunch with Gabe, Jordan, and Gabe’s mom, Kathy (our son Corey’s “other” mother), at McMenamin’s Kennedy School restaurant, attempting to come up with a name for this difficult-to-explain-in-one-or-two-words invention. All of us were throwing around ideas, most of which elicited wrinkled-nosed, eye-squinting responses. Sometimes we groaned or snickered, and sometimes we even looked interested before morphing back into the wrinkles and squints. Suddenly, out of seemingly nowhere, Gabe shouts out “MeowSpace!” We all fell silent in a stunned moment of spiritual awe, and in that moment, the MeowSpace® came into its own.

In preparing to write about this remarkable moment, I thought about starting out with, “In the beginning, MeowSpace…,” or “Call me MeowSpace,” or “We hold the MeowSpace to be self-evident…” or “A MeowSpace by any other name…” or “A MeowSpace for all seasons…” I got a million of ’em.

I have to admit that I cringe just a little when someone calls it a meowbox, or a catbox. I mean, isn’t a catbox pretty much a plain ol’ litter box? My 97-year-old mother keeps calling it “the cat cage,” even though there are no bars in evidence. Even worse, I think, is when people say they want one of those “cat thingies.” It’s getting so bad that the other day I caught myself telling a friend that we sold 4 “cat thingies” within 12-hours, at which point I covered my mouth in abject horror with both my hands and screamed a muffled “I han’t believe I hed that!”

Alas, slowly but surely, customers are calling and asking for a “MeowSpace” the same way they would ask for a “coke” or a “kleenex.” Yes, my friends, the MeowSpace® is becoming the standard name for a product that, up until Gabe’s “MeowSpace!” blurt, not only had no name, but didn’t exist. It wears its ® badge with pride, having been elevated from a simple TM, and because of what it does for felines and humans alike, the MeowSpace® is becoming synonymous with words like, “service,” “sanity,” “serenity,” and “savings.” So, despite the occasional dalliance into the world of “other” names, the MeowSpace® holds the greatest honor of being called, “The Multi-pet Household’s Best Friend.” And that’s good enough for me.

Some Topics On This Page: multi-pet household best friend | cat thingy | meowbox | catbox