DAVID L. PETERSON

What’s In a Name?

While vacationing on the island of Antigua, I could not help but notice a particular restaurant we passed by every day. Here is the restaurant:

So my question is, would you eat at Good Luck Restaurant? Now, if you took “good luck” to mean that if you eat there, you will receive good luck, then it is possible you might want to eat there frequently. If, however, you thought this might mean a chancy prospect from a culinary standpoint, you might think twice about making a reservation. Consider you tell a friend that you are planning to go eat there and their response was, “Good luck!” That would not swell you with confidence about your upcoming meal. In fact, you might be asking some additional questions of your friend to ascertain exactly what they know about this establishment.

Words matter. You must anticipate that the message you intend to deliver might be received differently depending on the perspective or experience of the receiver. Think through how you deliver messages, especially the name of your establishment, and see if you can come up with a way to be explicit about your meaning, eliminating the chance for misinterpretation.

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