Wednesday, June 5, 2013

on the crazy name change

So. Whewwwww. I've got a lot of explaining to do. I'll try to, um...make sure it makes sense. In true
Olivia-fashion, we're going to make a list and do things in an orderly fashion.

1. Why I'm changing my blog's name from "epiphanies" to "the cwtch"
2. What on earth "the cwtch" means
3. A little bit of rambling and one of my trademark awkward endings.

I started Epiphanies a little over a year ago, just before my 15th birthday, at a time when a lot of things in my life were falling into place. I felt like life was kind of starting to make sense to me and I was so excited - pieces of the puzzle were falling into place every day and I was always sort of going "WOAH. I get it now!"
And after a few weeks (or months, I can't remember. Probably months.) I couldn't contain my excitement in my journal anymore, so I started a blog. If you look at some of my early posts you'll see what I mean...I was all organized (okay, I'm still organized. But you know what I mean) and kind of sounded like I was giving a sermon sometimes... That's why I chose the name Epiphanies, and I was happy with it until a few months ago, when I started to realize that the purpose of my blog had changed.
For one thing, I hardly ever posted about my epiphanies anymore, because I wasn't having them as often. (not that I think I have the world all figured out or anything, because I SO don't. Just that my "figuring-things-out" stopped being in obvious spurts like it did when I started my blog.) I'd started posting more about writing, and life, and just loosening up and being myself a little bit more.
And that's why I'm changing my blog's name. Because the purpose of the blog has changed, and the name "epiphanies" doesn't fit anymore.

Now.
Why I picked the name "the cwtch" won't make any sense at all until I tell you what it means. it's actually kind of a cool story. See, cwtch is a Welsh word that I learned from my Welsh grandparents when I was really young. My Nanny always says things like "come cwtch with me" or "come and have a cwtch," (meaning, a hug or cuddle.) And I only just discovered the literal definition like a month ago, because I got curious and asked where the word "cwtch" came from and what it really meant.
When I looked it up I discovered that the word "cwtch" has no literal English translation (which is really cool. The idea that we don't have a word to express something is just so intriguing to me. I can't stop thinking about it.) It has a couple of different meanings. It can be a great big hug (sort of like all of our English words for hug smooshed into one), or a safe place (a literal hiding place, like a cupboard under the stairs, or a safe place created in the hearts of two people, like a parent and child, or two close friends.)
And that's what I want my blog to be. A big hug and a safe place. So that's really why I decided to call my blog "the cwtch." It's such a cool word and there's a lot of personal history behind it, too. Note: pronunciation isn't as hard as it looks, I promise. Cwtch is said "cutch," with the "cut" rhyming with the word put (or the double o in the word look), and the "ch" as in chicken. Cutch. Cwtch.

And there you go. Just so there's no confusion...a quick reminder, I've also changed the link to my blog. It's now www.thecwtch.blogspot.com, so if you try to go to my old Epiphanies address you won't find anything there. If you want to read more about the word cwtch, this site is really great and explains things really well (including the pronunciation, I was trying to figure out how to explain that in this post when I saw how they did it. Total lifesaver, I never thought of using the word "put" to explain that "uh" sound where the W is.)

So. Yeah. Thoughts?

~
Olivia


 

2 comments:

  1. The title has such a welcoming feeling now that I have read it's meanings.

    Oh, btw, I am Grace :-).

    Have a lovely week,
    Grace

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm so happy to hear that! Yay! Mission accomplished! :)

      Thanks for commenting, Grace. I hope I'll see you around!

      Delete

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