I don’t know one way or the other if explicitly mentioning a group of rationalists is a good idea or not, so bear that in mind...
But I’m think of ways to spin it that might sound better than “club”, while still being accurate: “Rationalist association” “rationalist society” “rationalist fellowship” “community” “fraternity” “(semi-official) group of rationalist individuals who meet regularly for discussion”
Society and fraternity seem to have the same negative connotations as club. Association and community seem fairly neutral, but association seems overly formal (to me).
I think we might want to use the stranger terms, like fellowship or dojo just to give off the impression that this is not a meeting of Spocks. However, fellowship might lead people to think it’s a gathering of Lord of the Rings fans. Dojo is my personal favorite too.
I like ‘dojo’ too. But considering that I’d heard the word for the first time on LW, I’ll probably need to find some equivalent Indian word—and I’ll have to think some two or three differnt words for people from different parts of the country (speaking different languages). Well, that itself is an interesting exercise. :)
I thought of ‘Gurukul’, but that gives the sense of a much more intense involvement with the ‘club’ than we want ppl to think. ‘Kalari’ works for Malayalam and a lot of south Indians, esp those familiar with Kalarippayattu and means exactly the same thing as dojo. But “Kalari for Rationality” sounds really ugly.
For Hindi, I donno.. Pathshaala? Too pompous. Sangham? :)
And the trouble with Rationalists Association etc are there already are organizations called that and they immediately evoke thoughts of ‘atheism’, ‘anti-godmen’ etc.
I refer to us as a “Group” or “Community.” I think it’s probably a good idea to include a question about that, since one of our potential goals IS to use this information to build communities.
I don’t know one way or the other if explicitly mentioning a group of rationalists is a good idea or not, so bear that in mind...
But I’m think of ways to spin it that might sound better than “club”, while still being accurate: “Rationalist association” “rationalist society” “rationalist fellowship” “community” “fraternity” “(semi-official) group of rationalist individuals who meet regularly for discussion”
I’ve gotten positive responses to “rationality dojo” the few times I’ve used the phrase.
Society and fraternity seem to have the same negative connotations as club. Association and community seem fairly neutral, but association seems overly formal (to me).
I think we might want to use the stranger terms, like fellowship or dojo just to give off the impression that this is not a meeting of Spocks. However, fellowship might lead people to think it’s a gathering of Lord of the Rings fans. Dojo is my personal favorite too.
I like ‘dojo’ too. But considering that I’d heard the word for the first time on LW, I’ll probably need to find some equivalent Indian word—and I’ll have to think some two or three differnt words for people from different parts of the country (speaking different languages). Well, that itself is an interesting exercise. :)
‘Ashram’ leaps immediately to mind, but that’s probably mostly wrong.
I thought of ‘Gurukul’, but that gives the sense of a much more intense involvement with the ‘club’ than we want ppl to think. ‘Kalari’ works for Malayalam and a lot of south Indians, esp those familiar with Kalarippayattu and means exactly the same thing as dojo. But “Kalari for Rationality” sounds really ugly.
For Hindi, I donno.. Pathshaala? Too pompous. Sangham? :)
And the trouble with Rationalists Association etc are there already are organizations called that and they immediately evoke thoughts of ‘atheism’, ‘anti-godmen’ etc.
I refer to us as a “Group” or “Community.” I think it’s probably a good idea to include a question about that, since one of our potential goals IS to use this information to build communities.