A witty modern name playing on the ‘space bar’ of the keyboard – and on the wide-open space of a good bar
The Space Bar in Greenwich holds four hundred reviews and a 4.5 – a strong score on a good sample – and it carries one of the wittiest and most modern of pun-names in this whole survey: “The Space Bar,” playing at once on the space bar of the keyboard, on outer space, and on the wide-open “space” of a good bar.
The keyboard pun
“The Space Bar” is a genuinely clever pun, and its first and most delightful meaning is the keyboard one. The “space bar,” of course, is the long bar at the bottom of every computer and typewriter keyboard – the key you press with your thumb to insert a space between words, the most-used key of all. To name a bar “The Space Bar” is a lovely piece of wordplay – the “bar” of the keyboard becoming an actual “bar” for drinking. It is exactly the kind of witty, knowing, modern pun that a contemporary bar delights in – the everyday word “space bar” suddenly seen afresh as the name of a drinking establishment. There is real cleverness and charm in it – a pun that makes you smile once you see it.
Outer space
The name carries a second, cosmic resonance too – “space” as outer space, the final frontier, the vast and wondrous cosmos. This gives the name a whole other dimension of possibility – the “Space Bar” as a bar of the stars, the cosmos, the future, evoking rockets and planets and the wonder of the universe. Whether or not the bar plays on this cosmic theme, the word “space” summons it – the vast, wondrous, romantic realm of outer space, of astronauts and stars and the great adventure of exploring the cosmos. It adds a note of wonder and futurism to the everyday keyboard pun – the space bar of the keyboard, and the great space of the stars, in one clever name.
The space of a good bar
And there is a third, simplest meaning – “space” as room, openness, a place to be. A good bar is, in a real sense, a “space” – a welcoming space, a social space, a place with room to gather, relax and enjoy oneself. “The Space Bar” thus also promises exactly this – a bar that is a good space, an open, welcoming, sociable place with room to breathe and gather. In an age that talks much of “spaces” – social spaces, creative spaces, gathering spaces – the name knowingly claims to be a good one: the Space Bar, a welcoming space for drinking and socialising. It is a name that works on every level – the keyboard pun, the cosmic wonder, and the simple promise of a good, open, welcoming space.
This multi-layered wit is exactly what makes a great modern bar name, and “The Space Bar” is one of the cleverest in this survey – a pun that works three ways, delighting on every level. Its strong score suggests a genuinely good and popular bar, living up to the wit and promise of its clever name. The Prat’s naming desk, which delights in a good pun above almost anything, salutes it warmly – and presses the space bar in tribute. It is a name of real cleverness, charm and modern wit.
The bar
A strong, well-regarded bar doing a good 4.5 across a good sample, wittily named “The Space Bar” – playing on the space bar of the keyboard, the wonder of outer space, and the open space of a good bar.
Verdict
Strong, well-regarded, and cleverly punning – the Space Bar, one of the wittiest names in this survey, working on the keyboard, the cosmos, and the open space of a good bar.
Go to the Space Bar for a drink and a smile, and enjoy the triple wit of the name – the space bar of the keyboard, the wonder of outer space, and the welcoming open space of a genuinely good bar.
Alan Nafzger was born in Lubbock, Texas, the son Swiss immigrants. He grew up on a dairy in Windthorst, north central Texas. He earned degrees from Midwestern State University (B.A. 1985) and Texas State University (M.A. 1987). University College Dublin (Ph.D. 1991). Dr. Nafzger has entertained and educated young people in Texas colleges for 37 years. Nafzger is best known for his dark novels and experimental screenwriting. His best know scripts to date are Lenin’s Body, produced in Russia by A-Media and Sea and Sky produced in The Philippines in the Tagalog language. In 1986, Nafzger wrote the iconic feminist western novel, Gina of Quitaque. He currently lives in Holloway, North London. Contact: [email protected]
