Vote for the worst brand name of the year in our catty Headscratcher Contest

Vote for the worst brand name of 2009 in our third annual Headscratcher of the Year contest. Past winners include Xobni and Shryk. How can you tell if a name sucks? It's hard to spell, pronounce, decipher, meaningless to the audience, void of emotion, a copycat, or just gives you the heebie jeebies. (See the Eat My Words SMILE & SCRATCH Test for more criteria.)

Vote as many times as you like, and please share this with your friends. The winner will be announced in early February and be awarded a hideously ugly Head Scratcher of the Year trophy, compliments of Eat My Words.

NEWS FLASH: Babies can’t spell and neither can you

Regular Kitchen Sink contributor Robin Wolaner sent us this hideously bad name for a baby clothing company that made us throw up a little bit it our mouth: Speesees. Ewwww.

According to the Speesees website, they came up with that name because (we are not making this up…) “s-p-e-e-s-e-e-s is the way a baby would spell 'species', if a baby could spell.” NEWS FLASH: Babies can’t spell and neither can you. It just goes to show you how bad naming happens when babies and eco-freaks lock themselves in a room with drinks and pizza until they come up with a name.

Apparently the sub-species folks over at Speesees are starting a de-evolution revolution by destroying literacy, one baby tee at a time. In 2003 they had a “series of phonetically-spelled animal species ('chik, 'kid, 'see hors, 'pup, je' raf), featuring an animal speesees on the front of a garment and its phonetic pronunciation on the back.” That’s just stoo- pid.

You may be able to buy some organic, fair trade duds for your little monkey there and save the planet in the process, but you’ll ruin his or her chance for literacy forever.

We suspect the real reason why they have such a leym name was because the domain wasn’t available on GoDaddy for $9.95. (Species.com is a tiny group of nerds that reposts articles about cataloguing animal and plant life – these guys probably would have sold their domain for a few hundred bucks since most of them have reached puberty.)

For a more evolved name, Speesees should have come to Eat My Words. They still have a shot of having us get them a lot of word of mouth though – they are our top contender for our Head Scratcher of the Year Award.

Alexandra's new vanity plate

Introducing our newest megawatt name: Illumineering™

We have never been asked to name a psychotherapy before, but Eat My Words is always up for a challenge. Renowned coach and psychotherapist Lauren Mackler, (and best-selling author of the book we named "Solemate: Master the Art of Aloneness & Transform Your Life), asked us to name her new therapy, which is based on the premise that when we're born, we are whole, integrated human beings with tremendous potential. As Lauren explained to us, "Growing up, we respond to our life conditioning by adopting habitual patterns of thought and behavior, many of which erode our innate wholeness. We carry these patterns into adulthood, and they shape our feelings, relationships, lives, and careers. Illumineering™ is a groundbreaking coaching method that integrates family systems work, psychodynamic psychology, and coaching." After exploring a wide range of names, we discovered that combining the words "Illuminate" and "Engineering," created the perfect word to describe this process: Illumineering. Illumineering™ Relationship Coaching helps people break free of their self-defeating patterns, develop strong interpersonal skills, and create the quality of relationships to which they aspire. Lauren also has developed Illumineering™ Executive Coaching, Illumineering™ Career Coaching, and Illumineering™ Life Coaching.

Wanted for TV: Estranged Family Members Who Would Like To Repair Their Relationship
A national TV news show is doing a segment on Lauren working with estranged family members. They’re looking for 2 estranged family members who would like to repair their relationship. It can be a couple, a parent and child (20s+), or siblings. The estranged pair will spend 3 days working with Lauren, during which she’ll use her Illumineering method to help them identify and address the root causes of the issues that led to the estrangement, and concrete actions they can take to build a healthier and more fulfilling relationship.

If you or someone you know is estranged with a family member and is interested in being part of this groundbreaking segment (which will include working with Lauren on camera), please send an email to info@laurenmackler.com and tell her you were referred by Eat My Words.

Spicy Eat My Words Fallapalooza Party - Photos Now Posted

On a perfect Indian Summer evening last Friday, more than 60 clients and friends came over for our 3rd annual Fallapalooza Paella Party. What a blast! Held on our spacious party patio, guests dined on delicious chorizo chick peas, succulent mushrooms, caprisi salad with fresh mozzarella and garden tomatoes, and of course, the culinary centerpiece, Spanish paella cooked before our eyes by the always entertaining Chef Ciado. (We named his business - Paella Party.). Beverages (named by Eat My Words, of course) included Fall Down Drunk, Red October, and the always popular, Mother Pucker. Thanks to everyone who made this the best Fallapalooza party yet.

Click here to relive the fun or see more of what you missed.