User:Sintel/Temperament survey
Recently I did a small survey to see how people feel about the naming of temperaments. I included 112 names I thought were sort of common, but tried to include a wide variety. In total, 21 people (anonymously) filled in the survey, most of them from the XA Discord server. This is of course just a small sample, and not very conclusive, but I feel like it's interesting anyway.
People ranked every name on a scale of 0, 1 or 2. 0 meaning they disliked the name, and 2 meaning they liked it. A 1 means either they were unfamiliar or simply neutral. I then rescaled this to -1 to 1, and the average of these is the "score" for each name. The standard deviation is also included, as a measure for how "controversial" the name was considered. All the data can be found in a sortable list at the bottom of this page.
Results
- Most liked names (in order)
- Meantone, blackwood, superpyth, porcupine, schismatic, augmented, magic, semaphore, tetracot, mavila, flattone, pajara, miracle, dicot, diminished, diaschismic
- Least liked names (in order)
- Ampersand, jamesbond, waage, porky, monzismic, meanenneadecal, migration, shrutar, immunity, beatles, history, pontiac, shibboleth
Some controversial ones: father, slender, bug, dominant, slendric, whitewood
Discussion
After reading the comments and some further discussions, here are some of my interpretations. Some names listed here weren't in the original survey, but I hope you can forgive me for extrapolating a bit.
Reasons for disliking a name
- Taking names from other cultures:
- Srutal, shrutar, gamelan, slendric, catalan(?)
- Mavila seems to be an exception here, as it was generally well-liked. Maqamic was already renamed.
- Names that are just variations or plain misspellings of others:
- Skwares-squares, porkypine-porky-porcupine, mabila-mavila
- Complicated compound names:
- Meannadecal, hemiwurschmidt, sesquiquartififths
- Brand names, cultural references, bad puns:
- Heinz, beatles, a-team, jamesbond, pontiac, slender, gorgo
- Orwell is an exception here.
- Nonsensical names:
- Vavoom, waage, bunya, gorgo
- Names that are easily confused with existing terminology:
- Flat, sharp, neutral, ampersand, commatic
- Temperaments that are well-known by their extensions:
- Blacksmith (= blackwood), ampersand (= miracle), cynder/mothra (both are disliked), orson (= orwell), hanson/kleismic, godzilla (= semaphore)
- Bad taste:
- Catcall, dominatrix
What makes a good name?
Good names are harder to categorize. Some names are already used so commonly that nobody really objects to them. Although there are still some that are disliked heavily despite this. It seems like the best names are either fun and easy to remember words (e.g. porcupine, bug, machine, magic), or allude to the structure somehow (e.g. dicot, superpyth, semaphore).
Most people also agree to have a single name regardless of the subgroup, as long as there is an agreed 'canonical' extension. Since a rank-2 temperament on a subgroup with 3 primes can be identified by a single comma, ideally it would be called after that comma (e.g. hanson can be kleismic). The other extensions would preferably be named in a way that makes the connection clear without being confused too easily. Flattone and hedgehog are good examples here.
Appendix
| Results | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| name | dislike | neutral | like | score | stddev |
| Meantone | 0 | 1 | 19 | 0.950 | 0.224 |
| Srutal | 9 | 9 | 3 | -0.286 | 0.717 |
| Augmented | 1 | 7 | 12 | 0.550 | 0.605 |
| Mercator | 3 | 9 | 8 | 0.250 | 0.716 |
| Porcupine | 2 | 2 | 15 | 0.684 | 0.671 |
| Bug | 5 | 7 | 9 | 0.190 | 0.814 |
| Hanson | 4 | 10 | 7 | 0.143 | 0.727 |
| Tetracot | 2 | 7 | 11 | 0.450 | 0.686 |
| Magic | 2 | 5 | 13 | 0.550 | 0.686 |
| Injera | 6 | 10 | 4 | -0.100 | 0.718 |
| Godzilla | 7 | 8 | 5 | -0.100 | 0.788 |
| Vicentino | 2 | 15 | 3 | 0.050 | 0.510 |
| Helmholtz | 2 | 10 | 8 | 0.300 | 0.657 |
| Schismatic | 0 | 8 | 12 | 0.600 | 0.503 |
| Dicot | 3 | 7 | 11 | 0.381 | 0.740 |
| Diminished | 1 | 11 | 8 | 0.350 | 0.587 |
| Sensi | 3 | 11 | 6 | 0.150 | 0.671 |
| Negri | 6 | 12 | 2 | -0.200 | 0.616 |
| Mavila | 3 | 5 | 12 | 0.450 | 0.759 |
| Mabila | 10 | 10 | 1 | -0.429 | 0.598 |
| Monzismic | 10 | 9 | 1 | -0.450 | 0.605 |
| Vavoom | 8 | 9 | 3 | -0.250 | 0.716 |
| Ampersand | 12 | 9 | 0 | -0.571 | 0.507 |
| Würschmidt | 6 | 10 | 4 | -0.100 | 0.718 |
| Blackwood | 1 | 3 | 16 | 0.750 | 0.550 |
| Whitewood | 5 | 7 | 8 | 0.150 | 0.813 |
| Compton | 4 | 11 | 5 | 0.050 | 0.686 |
| Amity | 3 | 13 | 4 | 0.050 | 0.605 |
| Passion | 7 | 10 | 3 | -0.200 | 0.696 |
| Orson | 6 | 11 | 4 | -0.095 | 0.700 |
| Valentine | 5 | 12 | 2 | -0.158 | 0.602 |
| Ripple | 3 | 12 | 4 | 0.053 | 0.621 |
| Unicorn | 6 | 13 | 1 | -0.250 | 0.550 |
| Immunity | 8 | 11 | 1 | -0.350 | 0.587 |
| Father | 10 | 5 | 6 | -0.190 | 0.873 |
| Doublewide | 4 | 13 | 3 | -0.050 | 0.605 |
| Shibboleth | 8 | 9 | 2 | -0.316 | 0.671 |
| Vishnu | 9 | 7 | 4 | -0.250 | 0.786 |
| Luna | 3 | 12 | 5 | 0.100 | 0.641 |
| Vulture | 4 | 12 | 4 | 0.000 | 0.649 |
| Gravity | 4 | 13 | 3 | -0.050 | 0.605 |
| Archy | 5 | 9 | 6 | 0.050 | 0.759 |
| Slendric | 9 | 7 | 5 | -0.190 | 0.814 |
| Beep | 8 | 8 | 5 | -0.143 | 0.793 |
| Superpyth | 0 | 5 | 15 | 0.750 | 0.444 |
| Heinz | 6 | 9 | 5 | -0.050 | 0.759 |
| Gorgo | 4 | 11 | 5 | 0.050 | 0.686 |
| Semaphore | 1 | 8 | 12 | 0.524 | 0.602 |
| Liese | 2 | 16 | 2 | 0.000 | 0.459 |
| Squares | 3 | 14 | 3 | 0.000 | 0.562 |
| Skwares | 8 | 9 | 3 | -0.250 | 0.716 |
| Pajara | 3 | 6 | 11 | 0.400 | 0.754 |
| Diaschismic | 3 | 7 | 10 | 0.350 | 0.745 |
| Shrutar | 9 | 11 | 1 | -0.381 | 0.590 |
| Beatles | 10 | 7 | 3 | -0.350 | 0.745 |
| Hemififths | 4 | 9 | 7 | 0.150 | 0.745 |
| Wizard | 5 | 10 | 5 | 0.000 | 0.725 |
| Miracle | 3 | 6 | 11 | 0.400 | 0.754 |
| Flattone | 2 | 7 | 11 | 0.450 | 0.686 |
| Augene | 4 | 12 | 4 | 0.000 | 0.649 |
| Keemun | 8 | 10 | 2 | -0.300 | 0.657 |
| Garibaldi | 5 | 10 | 5 | 0.000 | 0.725 |
| Cynder | 7 | 12 | 1 | -0.300 | 0.571 |
| Blacksmith | 5 | 12 | 3 | -0.100 | 0.641 |
| Catler | 6 | 12 | 2 | -0.200 | 0.616 |
| Porky | 11 | 9 | 1 | -0.476 | 0.602 |
| Pelogic | 7 | 10 | 4 | -0.143 | 0.727 |
| Dominant | 5 | 7 | 9 | 0.190 | 0.814 |
| Hystrix | 6 | 11 | 3 | -0.150 | 0.671 |
| Jamesbond | 10 | 10 | 0 | -0.500 | 0.513 |
| Octacot | 1 | 12 | 7 | 0.300 | 0.571 |
| Bunya | 7 | 11 | 2 | -0.250 | 0.639 |
| Myna | 4 | 12 | 4 | 0.000 | 0.649 |
| August | 5 | 13 | 2 | -0.150 | 0.587 |
| Migration | 7 | 12 | 1 | -0.300 | 0.571 |
| History | 8 | 11 | 1 | -0.350 | 0.587 |
| Catalan | 6 | 11 | 3 | -0.150 | 0.671 |
| Gamelan | 9 | 8 | 4 | -0.238 | 0.768 |
| Waage | 10 | 10 | 0 | -0.500 | 0.513 |
| Misty | 5 | 10 | 5 | 0.000 | 0.725 |
| Pontiac | 8 | 11 | 1 | -0.350 | 0.587 |
| Unidec | 4 | 13 | 3 | -0.050 | 0.605 |
| Buzzard | 4 | 12 | 4 | 0.000 | 0.649 |
| A-team | 8 | 10 | 2 | -0.300 | 0.657 |
| Orwell | 4 | 6 | 10 | 0.300 | 0.801 |
| Meanpop | 7 | 10 | 3 | -0.200 | 0.696 |
| Meanenneadecal | 10 | 9 | 1 | -0.450 | 0.605 |
| Ennealimmal | 4 | 9 | 7 | 0.150 | 0.745 |
| Supra | 5 | 14 | 1 | -0.200 | 0.523 |
| Parakleismic | 5 | 10 | 5 | 0.000 | 0.725 |
| Mohajira | 5 | 10 | 5 | 0.000 | 0.725 |
| Mothra | 6 | 12 | 2 | -0.200 | 0.616 |
| Andromeda | 4 | 11 | 5 | 0.050 | 0.686 |
| Hedgehog | 1 | 12 | 7 | 0.300 | 0.571 |
| Migration | 9 | 10 | 1 | -0.400 | 0.598 |
| Superkleismic | 3 | 13 | 4 | 0.050 | 0.605 |
| Neutral | 2 | 14 | 4 | 0.100 | 0.553 |
| Catakleismic | 6 | 11 | 3 | -0.150 | 0.671 |
| Machine | 3 | 9 | 8 | 0.250 | 0.716 |
| Harry | 7 | 9 | 4 | -0.150 | 0.745 |
| Orgone | 5 | 9 | 6 | 0.050 | 0.759 |
| Rodan | 8 | 9 | 3 | -0.250 | 0.716 |
| Triforce | 6 | 9 | 5 | -0.050 | 0.759 |
| Unidec | 5 | 11 | 4 | -0.050 | 0.686 |
| Octoid | 4 | 10 | 6 | 0.100 | 0.718 |
| Ennealimnic | 6 | 12 | 2 | -0.200 | 0.616 |
| Hemiwürschmidt | 7 | 11 | 2 | -0.250 | 0.639 |
| Semisept | 5 | 10 | 4 | -0.053 | 0.705 |
| Slender | 9 | 6 | 5 | -0.200 | 0.834 |
| Kwai | 7 | 9 | 4 | -0.150 | 0.745 |
| Portent | 6 | 12 | 2 | -0.200 | 0.616 |
| Hexe | 6 | 12 | 2 | -0.200 | 0.616 |