Flair or Flare?
When referring to those little widgets like MyBlogLog that spruce up a page, do you say “flair” or “flare”? The first place I heard the term was Office Space, and they call it flair:
Peter: What are pieces of flair?
Joanna: That’s where you know, suspenders and buttons and all sorts of stuff. We’re, uh, we’re actually required to wear fifteen pieces of flair.
But then FeedBurner refers to their product to add widgets at the bottom of feeds as FeedFlare. Not to nitpick (alright, it’s a nitpick), but I think Feedburner picked the wrong flare. It should be FeedFlair, right? Okay, too much with the nitpicking. I’ll stop.
Bob Gladstein Said,
March 21, 2007 @ 9:35 pm
Yes, but Feedburner has that fire thing going on. They set off flares. But they do it with a great deal of flair.
Andrew Said,
March 21, 2007 @ 9:38 pm
What’s wrong with nitpicking?? I will take any opportunity for a diversion from work today.
FeedFlair would be correct.
How about FeedPazazz? That is even naffer…
graywolf Said,
March 21, 2007 @ 9:43 pm
since we’re picking nits then why does google give more definitions for
http://www.google.com/search?q=define%3Aflare
then
http://www.google.com/search?q=define%3Aflair
Brian Shoff Said,
March 21, 2007 @ 9:46 pm
You’re right. It should be “flair”. However, with a name like FeedBurner, “flair” wouldn’t fit. It’s not pyrotechnic enough.
All hail the Awesome-Coolness-Hot-to-Trot-Feed-Flare.
*this message brought to you by the CSA (compulsively smiley anonymous)*
Lucas Said,
March 21, 2007 @ 9:46 pm
Flair is roughly synonymous with pizazz, or panache.
A flare is something that burns brightly.
So little gadgets and stuff add flair, and FeedBurner’s FeedFlare carries on their fire metaphor, possibly referring to flair by using a homophone (i.e. “flare”).
Brandon Said,
March 21, 2007 @ 10:07 pm
I think it should be Flair, not really sure..
Office space rocks tho
Gavin Doolan Said,
March 21, 2007 @ 10:34 pm
Being the car guru I am I always think of Flares as something attached to the wheel arch to allow for larger width tyres and generally but not always improved road handling.
Office Space was a great movie.
Matt Cutts Said,
March 21, 2007 @ 10:40 pm
It has been a quiet day for net news, hasn’t it Andrew?
Mike B Said,
March 21, 2007 @ 11:59 pm
Slow news day indeed. Thank God Friday is Hawaiian shirt day. So, you know, if you want to, go ahead and wear a Hawaiian shirt and jeans.
Jason Said,
March 22, 2007 @ 1:19 am
What bob said. Feedburner, fire, flare. Cmon, it’s punny.
Chris Finne Said,
March 22, 2007 @ 1:45 am
I seem to recall coming across some search engine where you can just type in “define:flair” and “define:flare” and it will give you definitions of the word, but I just can’t recall the URL
I bet that would resolve the debate.
MarkZZ Said,
March 22, 2007 @ 2:20 am
I think feedburner are referring to flares as in the ones that light the sky up…. Therefore letting you know where the feeds are
Londoner Said,
March 22, 2007 @ 4:15 am
Bob’s right. FeedBurner just took poetic license and warped Flair into Flare. Silly play on words, but hey…. it got us started on it!
Matt R Said,
March 22, 2007 @ 5:40 am
I concur; FeedBurner should use “Flair”.
Megan Said,
March 22, 2007 @ 6:30 am
http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/flair.html
I agree with others who say that Feedburner’s “flare” fits nicely with their fire/burning theme so you could say it’s just a twist to fit their theme. Who knows, maybe they didn’t mean it as “flair” at all but actually meant to say “flare” (as in fire).
Clintonia Said,
March 22, 2007 @ 7:06 am
Maybe using Flair in part of the name is copyright infringement.
Flair is a baseball card company.
?????
Matt Said,
March 22, 2007 @ 8:07 am
Your commenters are correct - we took some liberties with the name to tie back to our brand and the burning of the feeds and whatnot, and the original inspiration was indeed Office Space. Some notable rejects on the path to “FeedFlare” included “WildFire,” “LinkTrickz,” and the inevitable “FeedBuzzer.”
Tyler Martin Said,
March 22, 2007 @ 8:52 am
Damn English homonyms eh? I blame it on the British.
Todd Said,
March 22, 2007 @ 8:58 am
You know the nazis had pieces of flair that they made the jews wear.
Yea Chachskis!
don loeb Said,
March 22, 2007 @ 9:22 am
hey matt…it’s don from feedburner. while i didn’t do the naming (i think it was matt shobe, one of our cofounders), londoner and bob are right. it’s from office space, but we changed it a bit to match the flame
Multi-Worded Adam Said,
March 22, 2007 @ 9:28 am
I think there’s some subtle foreshadowing and future plot development in this post that no one has caught onto yet.
Matt, are you gonna go Milton Waddams at the end of the movie on the ‘Plex? Because if you could just do something cool like that, and then have those TPS reports on my desk by 5:00 PM, that’d be greeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaat.
Anna Said,
March 22, 2007 @ 10:23 am
um, yeeeeaaahh I’m gonna need you to come in on Saturday…..
And don’t forget, Friday is Hawaiian shirt day….
ok, enough, but you brought up office space, lol
And I’m w/you on the wrong flair/flare, but I think it was the play on words thing because they’re feed*burner* … so they are like the ‘fire’ people, hehe.
STAN: I need to talk about your flair.
JOANNA: Really? I have 15 buttons on. I, uh… (shows him)
STAN: Well, ok, 15 is minimum, ok?
JOANNA: Ok.
STAN: Now, it’s up to you whether or not you want to just do the bare minimum. Well, like Brian, for example, has 37 pieces of flair. And a terrific smile.
JOANNA: Ok. Ok, you want me to wear more?
STAN: Look. Joanna.
JOANNA: Yeah.
STAN: People can get a cheeseburger anywhere, ok? They come to Chotchkie’s for the atmosphere and the attitude. That’s what the flair’s about. It’s about fun.
Matt Cutts Said,
March 22, 2007 @ 3:16 pm
Awesome, thanks for stopping by, Feedburner folks! Good to know that it was intentionally smart.
Jamesq Said,
March 22, 2007 @ 4:13 pm
(Hope I got my Spam protection question right, I didn’t realise you had to have an IQ to comment!)
I think it’s important to never let good grammar get in the way of marketing!
There’s one for the copywriters to debate. (I even put my ‘ in the right place!!!)
Multi-Worded Adam Said,
March 23, 2007 @ 6:18 am
I doubt that’s the reason. If so, we could get even sillier and say that it plays off of Ric Flair’s name.
WOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
marc Said,
March 23, 2007 @ 7:05 am
I think the term de jour for wdigets/buttons/flaire(flare) is “bling”
GilbertZ Said,
March 27, 2007 @ 2:03 am
Well Matt, what was the source for your quote of the screenplay?
Netflare Said,
March 28, 2007 @ 1:40 pm
Oh, did we pick the wrong flare too matt?!! Or is this just a chance for a shameless plug?
Brent Hodgson Said,
April 4, 2007 @ 7:50 am
lol @ Netflare… er, Netflair?
I think Bob hit the nail on the head: Flair, FeedBURNER, Burn… “Flare”
P.S. - Rep to Matt for quoting from Office Space.
“Hello Matt, what’s happening. Listen, I’m going to have to go ahead and congratulate you on that one.”
Brett Said,
July 2, 2007 @ 11:05 am
I initially thought it was flair in Office Space too. A visit to dictionary.com actually left me confident it should be flare in office space. I have not seen the screenplay of course, and it seems to often be cited as flair but this definition of flare seems to me like it fits the best…7. to display conspicuously or ostentatiously…while flair means a special knack or talent which does not seem to apply as well to buttons and knick knacks displayed on a uniform….