On our kitchen counter, Mr. Magpie has laid out rows of seed packets. I delight in their evocative names: Scarlet Nantes carrots, Rosita eggplants, Jimmy Nardello’s Italian Sweet peppers, Grandma Hadley’s lettuce, Green Arrow shelling peas (dwarf). The flavors, their intended participation in select recipes, suggest themselves. I learned that the USDA enforces standards for the naming conventions. One guide for seed companies notes: “Although USDA discourages it, you may use descriptive terms in variety names as long as such terms are not misleading.” I found a strange antiestablishment pleasure in thinking that the USDA might prefer names like “Romaine Batch 22,” but some farmer scrawled “Grandma Hadley’s Lettuce” on the line. The slightly worldlier version of myself imagines a table of marketers debating the pros and cons of such a name — “no, Grandma Hadley feels more rustic and traditional. Let’s go with that.” In either case: somebody, either brassbound or suave in approach, pushed back on the “discouragement of descriptive terms.”
I am aware I might be over-egging the pudding, but the names on these seedling packets reminded me of the transformative power of language, the way it can negotiate, stand up, provoke, invoke, talk back by virtue of its own expression.
There is a phrase: “Change your language and change your thoughts.” When I first heard it, I was learning French, and I marveled at the way learning a second language taught me a lot about the delta between my culture and that of the French, and also invited new trickles and curlicues of semantic thought. The fact that we use apostrophes for the possessive (Jen’s shoes) versus the more overwrought but elegant formula of “the shoes of Jennifer” (“les chaussures de Jen”) in French often made me linger a bit longer on sentence construction. I’d sometimes find myself, in English, thinking “the shoes of Jen” vs. “Jen’s shoes” and preferring the gentler, more fluid flow. (Though I would never have actually written it as such in English — I am a fastidious rule follower in most lanes of life, but especially the grammatical.)
But I think, too, the phrase applies to many different contexts. A few years ago, I asked: What does your internal voice sound like? I’d observed that, while running, I often spoke to myself pejoratively, e.g., “hurry up!!!” versus “you got this.” I made a conscious effort to change my own tone.
Today, I am thinking about the way I label things in my own life, and how those namings invoke mood. (Inspired, of course, by “Grandma Hadley’s lettuce,” and the attendant vision of a slow rocking chair on the front porch of a white farmhouse with a charming garden out back, a ticking striped apron, and tender green lettuce leaves laced with green goddess dressing.) What would happen if “bedtime” was renamed something else? The morning rush took on its own evocative phrasing? I’m not talking anything wild here; could be something as simple as “end of day wind-down” or “morning hum.” Mr. Magpie and I have a regular segment of our evening that we refer to as “STPs,” or “Shoop Talking Points.” I occasionally have items tick-listed on a notepad for discussion, but sometimes they are more ad hoc. The style is informed by our many years of running businesses together, but the subject is familial, trivial: update on the HVAC issue, birthday party plans for our daughter, should we sign her up for soccer?, etc. Incidentally, I like the bristly comportment of the title, because it reminds me that household admin is no slouchy, soft thing. It is a lot of work, and we treat it as such, dividing and conquering, moving briskly from subject to subject with action items delegated, etc. We are not overly formal about it, but the naming — the mood it invokes — is generative for us.
Writing this musing out on paper has led me to wonder about configuring my day around named, designated “email checkpoints,” because the flood of inbound email routinely frays my productivity. I wonder whether cordoning that activity off into specific parts of my day and labeling as such on my calendar (possibly with a chirpy kind of title) would be helpful.
What say you, Magpies? Is there any part of your day that could benefit from a re-naming?
Post-Scripts.
+More on the architecture of daily life.
+On the perpetual quest to live in the present moment.
Shopping Break.
+SEA vibes for under $170.
+I cannot believe how popular this Zara dress for girls I shared last week has been! So cute for Easter/spring, and a great price. This $23 dress (also from Zara) is also precious for the season ahead.
+All my favorite Zara picks here.
+Into this tan striped colorway for one of my favorite tees. (Detailed review here.)
+Did you know you can buy Gap items via Amazon Prime now?! Amazing. They don’t appear to have the full inventory, but classics like their popular “Big Shirt” are now just a day away. I just ordered a new pair of these jeans for micro. I love their denim for little boys. Much sturdier than pairs I’ve purchased from Target (Cat and Jack) and Zara but not much more expensive.
+This $59 blouse is giving Emerson Fry.
+Loving this blue floral dress for Easter.
+This jumpsuit is just SO chic. I have a few similar utility/boiler room style jumpsuits that I like to layer over turtlenecks and finish with polished ballet flats. Sometimes like to throw a scarf on to soften the look.
+Would also look good with some on-trend sneaks like these.
+I did order myself this cozy sherpa fleece. Such fun colors.
+Loving all the pieces in the Sezane x SEA collab, but especially this (or jumpsuit variation).
+Home favorites.