gworley comments on What's In A Name? - Less Wrong

41 Post author: Yvain 29 June 2009 12:54PM

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Comment author: gworley 29 June 2009 05:16:13PM 0 points [-]

I feel kind of embarrassed now for having not known about this bias until now. It doesn't really surprise me, though: all my life I've noticed that I tend to like things that start with the letters "g" and "w": fictional characters, place names, etc.. I've never really thought consciously "I like things that sound like my name", but looking at my actual preferences I think it's pretty clear that I do.

Comment author: Kaj_Sotala 29 June 2009 05:34:05PM 1 point [-]

Blink.

Now that you mention this... I've always liked "C" names, myself. C, of course, can be pronounced either as a "K" or as an "S".

I'd known about the name bias for a while, and even used it as an example several times, and still didn't realize my own bias until you said that.

Though then again... I also like "E" names, so it might just be coincidence. You'd expect there to be plenty of false positives in a group this large.