A long time ago (a few years, anyway) I commenced an IT course at TAFE.
One of the first lessons was to use IRC (Internet Relay Chat, if you've ever wondered). To do that, you needed a unique nickname. Didn't want to go with a surname...too boring, so I started trying some nicknames that appealed to me, and that I thought would be obscure enough to be unique.
First up, I tried to use some intersting name (can't remember what), but it was already taken, so I decided to be clever and put a "1" after it. Not clever enough - somone already owned that. So I tried a "2"; surely no-one would have that. After a succession of futile attempts at this, I decided to try another nickname. Same thing with the numbers again, and using an underscore ("_") was no use at all. Geez, how many freaks are out there?!
Then I tried to go a little more obscure. Does anyone remember a cartoon character named "Racer X"? He was Speed Racer's brother. I've lost all the younger forumers now, and I was losing my chance to chat, as everyone else in the class was on and chatting now.
Tried a few other names and gave the numbers thing the flick. I was on a serious mission, and just looking at names now. After a few more names, I gave up on obscure cartoon characters and decided to go with an Aussie theme, to cut out the international "chatter's" names.
More fiddling about, a lot of procrastination and obfuscation, and I was thinking that I'd never get something unique. It wasn't about the IRC chat any longer, it was a matter of pride and a personal challenge.
The more obscure, the better, and if I could combine some words into a single entity, that might just be what i was looking for.
OK, ...obscure. Thinking about Kevin Bloody Wilson and his song about the guy with the tongue that's 10 inches long , and who's learned to breathe through his ears. I do have a sizable tongue, and have been known to poke it out quite a bit when I've had a few beers. (Aren't U guys lucky that I don't have genital piercings)? Cool, let's try Teninchtongue. Bingo...and still 20 minutes of chat time left, as well.
Back to the Brewery name...About 2 years ago, a mate asked me what my brewery was called, and I replied that I was thinking about something like the "SwampDragon brewery" as my house is on an acreage on what's reclaimed swamp, and Dragon just sounded tough and blokey. He suggested I call it the Teninch brewery and I had a "bit of a think" about that.
Hmmm,...Teninch appealed to both my vanity (nickname) and sense of the bizarre (ask anyone). It was certainly unique and ambiguous enough to be a double entendre. I'm sure that most people would think of something other than a tongue, when a Teninch brewery is mentioned.
Since then, I have adopted the Giraffe tongue as my brewery symbol/logo. For those who were wondering what that picture was on my NSW Xmas July case labels, have another look now.
Although a giraffe's tongue is longer than 10 inches (25.4 cm just doesn't sound cool, so apologies to those who are metric), and is actually 18 to 20 inches long and is blue, it didn't matter. A bit of exaggeration is always good, when it comes to marketing!
The giraffe tongue is also blue, so it's a bit a taunt: me poking my tongue out at the local Bluetongue brewery (my tongue's bigger than yours!), and a nod to Paddy's brewery (from Gerard M's quote of "meet you by the giraffes").
It feels good to get that off my chest. Now I now how PP feels after one of his mammoth posts :lol: :lol:
...and that's the story of how the Teninch Brewery came to be named. Wasn't that worth the wait?
Seth out (the Seth name is a whole 'nother story - we don't have time at the moment)
(Note the tongue emoticon that I use after I sign my posts)
