Yesterday I told you about Vook. Today, as chance and rhyme would have it, bookseller Barnes & Noble is introducing a new electronic-book reader called the Nook. It will cost $259, the same price as Amazon's Kindle.
I can understand how B&N arrived at Nook. It rhymes with book and suggests a cozy corner in which to curl up with ... well, a luminous battery-powered appliance. It's a venerable English word (as is kindle) that came into the language around 1300, with the sense of "a corner of a thing regarded as a separate portion," although its earlier provenance remains a mystery.
Nevertheless, Nook is not without problematic associations, of which "racial slur derived from nanook" and "pacifier/binky/sucky toy" are among the least worrisome.
P.S. On Twitter, writer/book critic Sarah Weinman suggested: "Maybe if they called it a Mook, it would reach a certain highly desired demographic?"
UPDATE: The Nook reader is now up on the B&N website.
How many nudniks will be buying Nooks?
Posted by: Lance Knobel | October 20, 2009 at 11:28 AM
Nook..that's pretty funny. It's good to see that even big guys like Barnes and Nobles can make these kind of marketing gafs.
Posted by: SaginawTXHomes | October 20, 2009 at 12:12 PM
Nookie is also another word for sex in England. Now what can we make of that I wonder?
Posted by: Tracey Taylor | October 20, 2009 at 02:10 PM
I Vant to be alone...with my Vook.
I dunno. I guess I'm reaching here. :)
Posted by: adchick | October 20, 2009 at 07:41 PM
Also, the Nook e-reader becomes nookie reader pretty easily.
Posted by: DRR | October 21, 2009 at 07:16 AM
@DRR and @Tracey: Many observers have pointed out the nook/nookie problem. See http://bit.ly/2iDIWf.
Posted by: Nancy Friedman | October 21, 2009 at 07:19 AM