Profy.com…..what is in the name?
by
on October 29, 2006,
When I was informed by Colbert that a startup was looking for a blogger, I became instantly interested. I didnt’t even know the name of the startup, but neither did I ask. All I knew was that it is about everything Web 2.0. When I was accepted, only then I knew it was Profy.com.
The name was really catchy, nice and easy to remember. Upon knowing Profy.com, my mind instantly tried to figure out what is it really the founders wanted to convey via the name Profy.com. At first instance, the word profit was on top of my list the blog name was derived from. However I wasn’t satisfied with that. Could it be something else? I knew Profy.com had to be a shortform of a word starting with ‘prof…’, so out of curiosity, I checked out the Concise Oxford Dictionary 10th Edition that I installed on my notebook and here are what I could find and interpret:
1. Professsor - this could be it. Those bunch of bloggers pumping out Web 2.0 articles for Profy.com could well be professors….Web 2.0 professors…without any doctorate degrees of course.
2. Profane - not initiated into religious rites. I dont think the founders of Profy.com ever inclined towars this thought.
3. Profanity - nahhh…definitely out of their vocabulary.
4. Profess - well there are four different meanings to this word in Oxford, but the one that might be applicable may be the fourth one, have or claim knowledge or skill in. Well I bet those bloggers do claim and proven that they are knowledgeable in Web 2.0
5. Profession (professional) - definitely could be in the mind of the founders when they coined the name Profy.com. Profession means a paid occupation… I shall not dwell more into this for we are paid quite handsomely for our professional blogging services at Profy.com.
6. Proffer - an offer or proposal. Though can be made as the case for the name Profy.com, I think it’s very unlikely that word had any motivation for the name chosen.
7. Proficient - competent, skilled. Ho ho ho…tell me about it fellow bloggers… aren’t we proficient in Web 2.0? As bloggers of course…
8. Profit - financial gain…this could well be the main motivator for the name Profy.com. Profit for the founders, profit for the bloggers and not forgetting to mention profit…in terms of knowledge to Profy.com blog readers….all are winners at Profy.com.
9. Profligate - recklessly extravagant or wasteful….no I dont think so.
10. Profound - very great or intense, or showing great knowledge or insight… again this word could be part of Profy.com but I doubt it was intentionally selected to form Profy.com
11. Profuse - plentiful or abundant… Profy.com is certainly abundant and plentiful of Web 2.0 stories and articles… could be one of the deciding factors for the name Profy.com.
Interesting reading? I hope so. Founders of Profy.com….any comment?
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Michael Fidler
Nice piece of research, CJCM.
And as for our actual reasons, the word ‘professional’ was behind the name we chose for the startup. But we actually chose it based on the Russian word pronounced as ‘profy’ and meaning informally a very professional skillful person. So what we are going to is a community of professionals (or profies, if you like it in Russian better).
Brilliant article! I myself have wondered about this but have been to lazy to fetch my dictionary…
‘Profit’ sprung to mind first for me also, but as I knew that Profy, Inc was non-profit, it didn’t seem to make sense!
TQ guys..I am glad you like it….I had fun researching and writing about it too. Today I learn a Russian word….profy. We are profies.
“Today I learn a Russian word….profy. We are profies.”
Now, is the plural in Russian profies or profys??
In Russian we use Cyrillic alphabet so it is spelled absolutely otherwise. Besides, the word ‘profy’ itself in Russian does not have any plural form at all.
2cworth, thanks for asking…now I know I failed my Russian language test….:)