Tip.
A lot of people will see the name and have the response that I did. Which is that this is likely to be an app that aims to help sleazy pickup artists out.
Like it or not that is the immediate association that people have with "wingman".
A lot of people will see the name and have the response that I did. Which is that this is likely to be an app that aims to help sleazy pickup artists out.
Like it or not that is the immediate association that people have with "wingman".
First of all, please don't pass off personal perspectives as fact. An "immediate association that people have"? Really? What actual data do you have to back such an assertion? I had no such image in my head whatsoever when I first saw the name. Am I in the majority or the minority? I have no idea. Neither do you.
Secondly, if we avoided each and every possible warped euphemism in the English language, we wouldn't be able to name anything. Teabag, facial, taint, snorkel... the list of potential innuendo is endless. These are perfectly good words that have been ruined by some jerk who thought he was being clever.
Don't buy into this. Let the 13 year-olds snigger in the back of the room if they want to. The only way to combat this prepubescent inanity is to use these words in their proper context -- as often as possible.
How many have the association? A few? A lot? From the fact that I did, my inclination is to suspect that it is not uncommon. Perhaps I'm wrong.
Will the name be a barrier to success? Possibly, possibly not. But it is important to know that some people will have that association. Perhaps you think that using the name anyways is a worthwhile public service. Perhaps you think that anything that causes people to get curious is good. Perhaps you think it is not the image you want.
The authors of the tool should take it however they want to. It is their product, not mine. But they should at least KNOW that, for better or for worse, there are people out there who will have the reaction that I did.
We brought up our concerns about it in development, but they resisted. Their product displaced the skin disease search results in a matter of weeks after launch.
My point being: names are just names, but they can make or break through connotations depending on how well delivery is executed.