This week I have been at my annual big family vacation in the North Carolina mountains. We’ve been coming to the same “family camp” since I was a child–this year there are 24 of us.
This year, the camp has a slogan “Welcome to this thin place.”
I confess, this baffles me. It’s a place where families come, hike in the mountains, eat in the dining hall, float on the lake, and say grace before each meal. It is not anywhere I’d associate with anything thin. When I asked what it meant, I was told this is a thin place between heaven and earth. Um. OK. I mean, it used to be affiliated with the church so that’s where the heaven piece comes from I guess. But it’s just a terrible slogan. It’s unclear, not easily parsed, and uses language one would typically associate with weight loss.
Anyway, this got me thinking about slogans. When they’re good, they identify an entity’s mission and makeup. Melts in your mouth, not in your hands. The breakfast of Champions. All the news that’s fit to print. You know them when you hear them.
AAR does not have a slogan. And maybe, in this era of social media dominance, we should. If we did, what would it be? I’d love to hear your suggestions. And who knows, if you come up with a perfect one, I might add it to our banners! Thanks!
“Let’s talk about love”
I have to admit this makes me think of the Salt-n-Pepa song “Let’s talk about sex, baby, let’s talk about you and me…”
I love that! That made me think about the Bonnie Raitt song, Something to Talk About. One verse says:
Let’s give ’em something to talk about, babe
A little mystery to figure out
Let’s give ’em something to talk about
How about love?
Since the purpose of AAR is to talk about love, then perhaps the slogan should signify that?
I love that Bonnie Raitt song!
What I hoped to convey with the slogan is that this is a site for discussion and debate (which it is!)
I agree with you that ‘Welcome to this thin place’ is a dreadful slogan. It makes it sound like it’s a place where they starve you and make you go on long walks with bricks in your backpack! You WILL lose that weight………..
In UK, ‘thin’ is sometimes used to mean ‘not enough’ which wouldn’t make it a good choice for a holiday resort slogan.
…Because everyone deserves a happily-ever-after…
I like it!
“The thin place” immediately made me think of some kind of weight-loss boot camp! I have to say that anywhere with a name or slogan with religious overtones would make me run screaming in the opposite direction.
This used to be a church resort and it still has a strong spiritual component which most of my family just ignores.
It made me think of Stephen King’s Thinner, a horror story about a pie that makes you lose weight till it kills you IIRC. Which led me immediately to think this was some sort of diet boot camp. Either way, not positive associations at all.
By the way, although the angle of the picture doesn’t show it, this is a tallest (6’8.5″) to shortest (5′) shot!
Honest looks at words of love.
Loving love words.
Love word lovers.
Love and Books
Reading With Love
The Romance Reader’s Haven
Reading Romance
We Have a Relationship With Romance
I was in the North Carolina mountains around Little Switzerland two weeks ago. Beautiful views and much cooler than it was back home.
I think the site name pretty much says it all: All About Romance. But if you feel the need to tag something onto that, I think it would be “by readers, for readers”.
By the way, love the family photo and love that your family has kept this tradition going for such a long time.
Lake Junaluska?
No–we’re much closer to Asheville.
I like some of these slogans, but I think it’s important that it indicate, by word choice, that it’s not a porn site. The word love can be associated with sex; romance–not so much. I think nblibgirl has it right “All About Romance” says about all.
On the other hand, what can an additional slogan hurt?
(Unless it is “Welcome to this Thin Place.” Wouldn’t you think they’d have named it “the place between heaven and earth.” Oh, yeah, maybe they were afraid that would indicate getting high.)
Sadly, my mind is not good about slogans, but if inspiration strikes, I’ll put my hat in the ring. (Another, earlier slogan from a by-gone era.)
The term “thin place” is actually of Celtic origin and not orignally tied to the Christian religion. In fact it was tied to Celtic pagan spirituality. It simply means a place where we feel a part of nature itself, sort of losing yourself in awe. A thin place was originally thought to be places (in Ireland and Scotland) where the air is actually thinner, like mountain tops, where we touch “the heavens” as opposed to “The Heaven”. A place where our smallness can be viserally felt. It also reflects the way we may feel in times of, say, grief, or other major life shift where we are forced to understand our inabilities– again, our smallness.
Some Christians have taken the concept and made it fit in with their theology, which is fine, but not exactly the original meaning of the term.
I personally really like the concept and the term.
It’s clear that’s what they intended. But no one could understand it so I think it fails as a motto.