Me, Guillaume and the Jellybean.

I confess. I talk to inanimate objects. Not long in-depth discussions you understand, but I will yell at them, be persuasive with them and I have been known to express a certain love for my couch. 

There are even a few hallowed objects in my life that I have gone so far as to name. The couch not being one of them, that would be weird. It started with my previous car and has spread a little to include my laptop and iPod. The fridge, I think, will forever be left out and the speakers wouldn't appreciate the honour of personalisation.

The 'advantage' of naming one's electronic devices is that when you need to yell at said device in frustration, you can get personal.  My previous car, lovingly named ‘Jellybean’ would be sweet-talked when she was sulking and didn’t want to go up a hill, or congratulated when she took off at the lights like the little pocket-rocket she was. 

The disadvantage of naming inanimate objects is I suspect that when you name items, you risk inadvertently giving them a personality. My iPod, Christophe, I swear sometimes uploads songs that I didn’t request. It’s as if he/it is trying to sway my musical taste.

My current named gadgets are:

• Previous car: Jellybean. It was a Mazda 121, a ‘bubble’ car so this was a no-brainer.
• iPod: Christophe. Named after my favourite customer at the café I worked at when living in London.
• Computer: Guillaume. For no reason whatsoever, except that it’s a laptop and if I have something in my lap it might as well by French and male.
• Car: Madeleine or Tabitha. I really don’t like the name Tabitha, but it popped into my head and I’m struggling to get it out. It’s just such a Tabitha car.   

Is naming inanimate objects too strange? Or do you name your possessions? 

What do you call them and why?