People are WEIRD

I have determined after much research and theorizing that people, in general, are unpredictable, un-understandable, and generally weird. I have significant evidence to support this truth but I will focus on one area that seems to defy the general laws of common sense.

The housing development name. Yes, something this simple exemplifies the sheer randomness of the human psyche. Apartment complexes, housing developments, hotels, neighborhoods, and the new thing is for it to have a cool name that no one else has. Below are just a few apartment complexes in my town:

Fountains of (Fill in your city’s name here)
Interestingly enough, you will never find fountains at these complexes. Maybe a fountain in every living room, perhaps, but nope, nothing.

The Timber Links
So is there a log cabin/golfing theme going on here?

The Waterford at Spencer Oaks
Is this something to do with expensive European crystal? And who is Spencer and why are his oaks special?

Salem Ridge
Is this a place that targets witches or maybe those who persecute witches, more of the puritan set?

Primrose at Sequoia Park
My favorite for the complete lack of point. This was obviously arrived at by throwing darts at a word wall and then having a game of rearrange the words until it sounds good.


Another interesting endeavor is the new self-contained neighborhoods. Come live here, the say, we have design your own houses, a water park, our own school, and a big brick wall to protect you from the outer world. It’s your own little cult like world wrapped up in a cool name.

One particular place right outside of my town is classic. Savannah. Not Georgia, mind you, but Savannah housing development of north central Texas. This is marketing genius.

Here is the obvious thought process of the developer:

People like the south, they want to live in a good ol’ southern neighborhood but they live in Texas. What is a person to do? We’ll build Savannah in Texas. Genius. We’ll build homes that look like they belong in Georgia and they will all be color coordinated because well the south is color coordinated. Can we use seersucker anywhere? Great. Hold on this isn’t quite it; it still looks like Texas outside the windows. Hold on, I’ve got it we’ll add palm trees. Now I realize palm trees aren’t indigenous to northern Texas but we can make it work. Don’t worry the people won’t notice the two-by-fours propping up the dead trees. What can be do to take their minds off the two-by-fours? A water park. Some neighborhoods have a community pool, we’ll outdo them with a water park, slides, wave pool, lazy river, and all. Ok what else? Wait, houses = families, families = kids, kids = schools. We need a school. Don’t send the kids to the normal city schools, then we will loose the close knit, freakishly cult like neighborhood. We’ll build our own school so our families never have to venture beyond the brick walls. Welcome to Savannah, north-central Texas, where you can pretend to live in Georgia while living in Texas.