Let's Call It W-F

When considering the name 'Wi-Fi' and why I found it so insulting to my intelligence, I was reminded of something one of the members of Crass - I think it was Penny Rimbaud - once said about the anti-nuclear movement in America. As I recall it, he said that although he was in sympathy with their aims, he disliked the way that they referred to nuclear weapons as 'Nukes', which he thought was a word that, by its use trivialised the seriousness of the destructive threat they were claiming to be opposed to.

The name 'Wi-Fi' is horrible. The reason for this, I surmised is because it sounds like the name of a character from children's TV, or an element of some other ostensibly benevolent entertainment that would be enjoyed by children. The use of this word - 'Wi-Fi' - to describe something that is responsible for inflicting toxic radiation upon millions of people, including children, babies and unborn children [*], has, by design or circumstance less clear, influenced the mass public in an infantilising way.

It suits the Wireless Industry that every time anyone refers to a key facet of their vastly wide-reaching and profitable technological business interests, a part of the speaker, writer or thinker's mind is regressing to an infantile state. When the person thinking the word 'Wi-Fi' was once a child, it is likely that a powerful adult, who could do things that were beyond their abilities and understanding, would switch on a television set for them to watch a children's TV programme, or furnish them with a similarly benign entertainment. Now, as adults, they partially regress to that passive, grateful, unquestioning state before the predations of the Wireless Industry and their ghastly 'Wi-Fi', believing it - to some extent through the subconscious influence of the infantile name - to be as perfectly harmless as the audio-visual fare they were provided with as children.

Basic research on 'Wi-Fi', as well as comparable children's TV show character names and more follows here:

Wi-Fi

'..The name Wi-Fi; commercially used at least as early as August 1999, was coined by the brand-consulting firm Interbrand...' (Wikipedia)

'Interbrand, a division of Omnicom, is a brand consultancy, specializing in areas such as brand strategy, brand analytics, brand valuation, corporate design, digital brand management, packaging design, and naming. Interbrand has 24 offices in 17 countries...' (Wikipedia)

'Wi-Fi doesn't stand for anything.

It is not an acronym. There is no meaning.

Wi-Fi and the ying yang style logo were invented by Interbrand. We (the founding members of the Wi-Fi Alliance) hired Interbrand to come up with the name and logo that we could use for our interoperability seal and marketing efforts. We needed something that was a little catchier than "IEEE 802.116 Direct Sequence". Interbrand created "Prozac", "Compaq", "oneworld", "Imation" and many other brand names that you have heard of..

...some of my colleagues in the group were afraid. They didn't understand branding or marketing. They could not imagine using the name "Wi-Fi" without having some sort of literal explanation. So we compromised and agreed to include the tag line "The Standard for Wireless Fidelity" along with the name. This was a mistake... we chose the name Wi-Fi from a list of 10 names that Interbrand proposed...' (Phil Belanger / boingboing.net)

Kiki etc.

'Hector's House.. is a children's television series using hand puppets.. it was a French production.. revoiced for a British audience.. first broadcast in 1965.. In the United Kingdom, it was first shown on the 9 September 1968 and the series of 78 episodes continued as a repeat until 12 September 1975 for its 5-minute-long screenings on BBC1 at 5:40 p.m. before the News...

The main characters, affable Hector the Dog and cute Zsazsa the Cat, live in a house and beautiful garden. Kiki the Frog, dressed in a pink smock, is a constant and at times an intrusive visitor, through her hole in the wall...' (Wikipedia)

Tinky Winky etc.

'Teletubbies is a British pre-school children's television series.. The programme focuses on four multi-coloured creatures known as "Teletubbies", named after the television screens implanted in their abdomens. Recognised throughout popular culture for the uniquely shaped antenna protruding from the head of each character, the Teletubbies communicate through gibberish and were designed to bear resemblance to toddlers.

Particularly notable for its high production values, the series rapidly became a commercial success in Britain and abroad.. By October 2000, the franchise generated over £1 billion in merchandise sales...

Main characters

Tinky Winky... Dipsey... Laa-Laa... Po...' (Wikipedia)

Do-Re-Mi

'Do-Re-Mi is a show tune from the 1959 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music. Within the story, it is used by Maria to teach the notes of the major musical scale to the Von Trapp children who learn to sing for the first time, even though their father disallowed frivolity after their mother's death. Each syllable of the musical solfège system appears in the song's lyrics, sung on a pitch it names...

In the stage version, Maria sings this song in the living room of Captain von Trapp's house, shortly after she introduces herself to the children.. In the film, Maria and the children sing this song over a montage as they wander and frolic over Salzburg...' (Wikipedia)

Wi-Fi

'Wi-Fi is technology (let's call it W-F) for radio wireless local area networking of devices based on the IEEE 802.11 standards. Wi-Fi (let's call it W-F) is a trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance.

Devices that can use Wi-Fi technologies (let's call it W-F) include desktops and laptops, video game consoles, smartphones (sheephones? baaaphones?) and tablets, smart TV's (sheep TV's? baaa TV's?), digital audio players, cars and modern printers. Wi-Fi compatible devices (let's call it W-F) can connect to the internet via a WLAN and a wireless access point. Such an access point or hotspot has a range of about 20 metres.. indoors and a greater range outdoors. Hotspot coverage can be as small as a single room with walls that block radio waves, or as large as many square kilometres achieved by using multiple overlapping access points...' (Wikipedia)

[*] For evidence of the harm done to people and all other living entities by W-F electromagnetic fields, see Martin Blank, Ph D - OVERPOWERED : What Science Tells Us about the Dangers of Cell Phones and Other WiFi-Age Devices... of particular relevance being:

Chapter 4.... EMF DAMAGES DNA

Chapter 5.... EMF AND CANCER

Chapter 6.... OTHER HEALTH EFFECTS OF EMF

Chapter 7.... THE NONHUMAN IMPACT OF EMF.. (Birds, Bees, Plants, Environment)

Chapter 13.... CHILDREN AND THE ELECTROHYPERSENSITIVE