Such an original name...

So, I figured we have our little chaotic family so I named our blog Controlled Chapman Chaos. And then my sister Brittney decided that this was of the alternative lifestyle persuasion. I had to rename the darn thing.

Sarah told me to just call it Chapman Family Blog. Umm... no...

I'm a fan of alliteration. Always have been. And since I grew up as part of the Killer B's, it was easy to say things like "Bryan bugs Brandon" and "Brook bites Bryan's butt" and "Brittney begs for butt boogers."

Anyway, for the life of me I couldn't figure out something witty that would alliterate appropriately. Can't figure out something witty = I'm not witty. And if a=b and b=c, then that means I'm now Brook. And that just can't happen!

The things we do when nobody is watching... I actually Googled "words that contain the letters ch" and ended up with a large list. Like watching paint dry, I paintakingly went through the list and was finding words like "chautauqua." Yes! Chapman Chautauqua sounds great! And then I would have to look up the words in Merriam-Webster because, really, except for Ken Jennings and a couple of those Scripps freaks, who, on a side note have no friends, who knows what words like chautauqua mean? Yes, to write this blog, I had to Google whether Merriam had one "r" or two.

So, it turns out that chautauqua means "any of various traveling shows and local assemblies that flourished in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, that provided popular education combined with entertainment in the form of lectures, concerts, and plays, and that were modeled after activities at the Chautauqua Institution of western New York."

Well, I guess we were living in Western NY during grad school. And, on top of that, we've done a lot of moving around so, in essence, we are like a traveling show. And then, I saw that the word chautauque actually starts with an "sh" sound. I saw that and wanted to say something else that begins with "sh."

And then I saw the word "chaulmoogra" and thought, it was a cool word that maybe it wouldn't have an "sh" sound, which, after verifying with M-W.com, was happy to find out it didn't. And then I saw the definition: "any of several East Indian trees (family Flacourtiaceae) that yield an acrid oil used especially formerly in treating leprosy and skin diseases." Hmm... well, it's a stretch, but, there are several Chapmans... and something from an orifice that I have yields something kind of acrid, and while it doesn't treat leprosy and skin diseases, it certainly causes them.

Then I figured Sarah wouldn't be happy with me categorizing her in the same lot as me and the other Chapman men.

Funny, when Sarah originally told me to write Chapman Family Blog, I turned her down because it wasn't very original. So I went on this big long quest to find something original. And in the end, in some moment of discovery, I realized my favorite band, the Dave Matthews Band, has about the least original name in existence and yet, have arguably the most original sound around. Everyday some jerk wad pops up and tries to copy their stuff and fails after one or two hit singles. If it was good enough for them, it was good enough for me.

So, there you have it, it's the Chapman Family Blog.

Hey, what do you think about the Chapman Chelicerae? Look it up!