What Does The Word SLACKER Mean To You?

November 1, 2009 1:18 PM

Do-Gooder Needs Help With Amusing Slackronym!

I am thinking of starting a website that would feature local people in Northern New England who have valuable job skills or passions that are lying dormant because of the economic downturn.

I want to entitle it SLACKER.com or something similar, but am having trouble aligning a SLACKER acronym (slackronym?) with it.

Ideally the Slackronym should embody the following:
- underused, valuable local resources.
- a commitment to making the world a better place through your passions.
- the idea that enormous possibilities are going unnoticed in our communities because no one is hearing about what people can offer.

Any creative, witty or sarcastic help with fitting words into a SLACKER acronym would be great. Bonus points for turning the whole "GET A JOB, ASSHOLE!" rhetoric on its ear that the far-right wingnut Tea Party folks use.

posted by Lipstick Thespian to computers & internet (21 comments total)

"S.L.A.C.K.E.R.: So Lazy, whatever."
posted by Flunkie at 1:21 PM on November 1 [3 favorites has favorites]

somethingsomething Economic Recession
posted by Sys Rq at 1:22 PM on November 1

Screwed over
Laborers
Attempting to
Counteract
K-street imposed
Economic
Ruin
posted by DetonatedManiac at 1:24 PM on November 1 [5 favorites has favorites]

Seeking Life Amid Crotch-Kicking Economic Recession
posted by Sys Rq at 1:25 PM on November 1 [2 favorites has favorites]

FYI K-Street
posted by DetonatedManiac at 1:25 PM on November 1 [1 favorite has favorites]

Sharing Labour and Common Knowledge Enhancing Resources
posted by watercarrier at 1:44 PM on November 1 [2 favorites has favorites]

Skilled
Local
Aspirational/Active
Creative
Knowledgeable
Engaged/Educated
Recession victims c======== don't like this much, maybe Re-employ Us! or "Reduced to welfare" (playing to the people who see it as "slacking", but maybe not ideal).
posted by Wrinkled Stumpskin at 1:47 PM on November 1

Stop
Letting
a
Crisis
Knock out [not ideal]
Exceptional
Resources
posted by sueinnyc at 1:51 PM on November 1 [1 favorite has favorites]

Somebody Looking Actively Could Kick/Kill Economic Recession
posted by freddymungo at 2:14 PM on November 1

You could make it Somebody Looking Actively Could Kiss Economic Recession Good-bye, and have the URL "slackergoodbye", or use Knock Out like sueinnyc said, and it "slackerout," or something like that.
posted by freddymungo at 2:21 PM on November 1

So
Let’s
Act
Collaboratively to
Kick the Ass of the
Economic
Recession

So
Let’s
Act
Collaboratively with
Kindness for
Everyone in the
Recession
posted by krudiger at 2:29 PM on November 1 [1 favorite has favorites]

Note to Universe: Never Underestimate The Power of a Hivemind.

I love everyone who's contributed to this thread and all who will contribute. Your suggestions are FANTASTIC. Me and my hundred typewriter monkeys are gobsmacked.
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 2:42 PM on November 1

riffing:
Seacoast Leaders Are Creating Kindness in Economic Recession.
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 2:45 PM on November 1

Not to spoil the acronymic fun, but are you sure "slacker" is a good choice for what you're talking about? It connotes voluntary laziness, which doesn't fit with your concept at all, not even in an ironic-opposites kind of way.

Also note the existing slacker.com domain isn't going to expire until 2018, so unless this recession lasts a long time...

I feel like a bit of a stick in the mud pointing this out, and maybe I just don't Get It, but as someone who lives in your target area and fits your target audience to a T, I'd find the name "slacker" very off-putting, no matter how clever the acronym.
posted by ook at 3:19 PM on November 1

Ook - you bring up a great point, and one that I was planning on investigating later on. I think I even came up with Slacker.com because I'd SEEN Slacker.com.

You also have another good point in too much negative connotation with this.

So I put it to you, Ook (and all Hive-itude): let's brainstorm another way of looking at this. What handle can you come up with that is:

a. funny, short and memorable,
b. speaks to the need for recognizing the talent that is going to waste in this economy,
and
c. catchy enough to draw your attention to a poster/card/announcement seen in public that would get you interested enough to submit your story or pitch in?
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 3:55 PM on November 1

I would start with a domain search trying to find what's available that could work for what you want to do. I had to do this recently, and it's harder than you would think. Nothing is more frustrating than having a kick-ass name to discover you can't use it. Once you have a list of possible domains, then you can narrow it down from there.

Of course, you need something to plug into your domain search so I would suggest free-writing adjectives or phrases that could describe the site you want to create. For example: scrappy, pulling ourselves up by the bootstraps, hidden gems, hidden talents, so much to offer, resourceful, helpful, and so on. Also, the thesaurus is your friend. It will help you make connections you may not have considered on your own and hone in on the subtleties that make it the exact right word or phrase you want to use. Good luck!
posted by katemcd at 4:43 PM on November 1

One more thing, as I started to navigate away from this page, these lyrics from Sure Shot by the Beastie Boys came into my head: "Well you say I'm twenty something and should be slacking/But I´m working harder than ever and you could call it macking." I don't know if that helps you at all, but I thought I would throw it out there in case it jump-starts a train of thought.
posted by katemcd at 4:51 PM on November 1

a la katmcd's comment: "Bootstrap Pullers" sounds like a good name for something, methinks. (but not acronym friendly I guess)
posted by NikitaNikita at 4:52 PM on November 1

NikitaNikita - you bring good juju: anyone here dig the idea of: bootstrapped.com?
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 6:13 PM on November 1

Maybe something like this?

Leading
Our
Community
And
Preventing the
Ongoing
Waste of
Exceptional
Resources
posted by sueinnyc at 6:21 PM on November 1

For what it's worth, bootstrapped.com is also already taken. You should probably add to your list:

d) not already registered as a domain
posted by hades at 7:17 PM on November 1