Q: Why "Transmogrifier"?

A: Well, it's a long story...


I delivered the first version of Transmogrifier to Maxis for testing...

From: Don Hopkins
Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2000 12:11 PM
To: cbaena; willw; Charvat, Jeff; lucb
Subject: SimTransmogrifier Documentation, Program and Example
Message Attachment: File: SimTransmogrifier.exe File: flamingo000.iff


I didn't have to wait long before getting some promising feedback!

From: Baena, Chris
To: Don Hopkins
Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2000 12:30 PM
Subject: RE: SimTransmogrifier Documentation, Program and Example

Thanks Don. We'll take a look and run it through some tests and give you feedback by Friday.

Chris


Now that the software's delivered for testing, I started working on the documentation and web site. I hoped they didn't find any problems with the program, and waited for the other shoe to drop... What could possibly go wrong???

From: Don Hopkins
Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2000 1:42 PM
To: Baena, Chris; willw; lucb; Charvat, Jeff
Subject: Re: SimTransmogrifier Documentation, Program and Example

OK, I've put up a placeholder web page, with a pointer to the doc online:

http://www.LushCreations.com/SimTools.html

That is where I'll put stuff up about SimTransmogrifier and other content creation tools for The Sims.

-Don

PS: Will: Sorry -- I sent a message to you at willw but it bounced! I'll re-send it again.


OH NO!!! The first problem they found was a showstopper: somebody in EA Legal raised a red flag about the name "Transmogrifier"! Time to start paying the lawyers to come up with a new name. How long could that possibly take, and at what cost?

From: Baena, Chris
To: Don Hopkins, willw, Barthelet, Luc; Charvat, Jeff
Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2000 1:50 PM
Subject: RE: SimTransmogrifier Documentation, Program and Example

Don,
We are most definitely not using the name Transmografier due to copyright issues. Could you please remove that name from your website ASAP and put in a placeholder generic name until we get word bak from our legal department.

Thanks,
Chris


Time for damage control. I tried to joking my way out of this one. In case that didn't go over well with the lawyers, I also got pedantic and cited the dictionary.

From: Don Hopkins
Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2000 8:42 PM
To: Baena, Chris
Subject: Re: SimTransmogrifier Documentation, Program and Example

Who's trademarked the name Transmogrifier?
I thought it was a generic word, that reminded me of old monster movies with mad scientists getting into trouble by screwing around with things they weren't meant to, upsetting the natural order of the universe, pissing off God and bringing curses down on their families for generations to come, etc.
There is the PKD book called "The Transmogrification of Timothy Arthur", but PKD doesn't have a monopoly on the concept.
Is there some hidden meaning I wasn't aware of?
I hadn't looked it up, but now that I do, it seems eerily appropriate, although the "origin unknown" sounds a little ominous. Here's what Merriam Webster has to say:

Main Entry: transmogrify
Pronunciation: tran(t)s-'m-gr&-"fI, tranz-
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): -fied; -fying
Etymology: origin unknown
Date: 1656
transitive senses : to change or alter greatly and often with grotesque or humorous effect
intransitive senses : to become transmogrified
synonym see TRANSFORM
- transmogrification /(")tran(t)s-"m-gr&-f&-'kA-sh&n, (")tranz-/noun


Appearently the laywers still weren't convinced... The "origin unknown" must have spooked them out.

From: Baena, Chris
To: Don Hopkins
Subject: RE: SimTransmogrifier Documentation, Program and Example

It actually was created by the author of Calvin and Hobbes. It was Calvin's gun I think.

Chris


At this point I was so attached to the name Transmogrifier that once I ran out of literary references, I started making up technical excuses about why it would be a lot of work to change the name. Then I enlisted the help of the all-powerful Anagram Server, which is surely the most objective way to settle any aestheic argument about what to name to use.

From: Don Hopkins
To: Baena, Chris
Cc: willw; Don Hopkins; lucb
Sent: Thursday, May 18, 2000 2:07 PM
Subject: Re: SimTransmogrifier Documentation, Program and Example

It must be a historic literary reference, like Calvin and Hobbes themselves.
;-)
I was worried about Phillip K Dick's estate making claim to "The Transmogrification of Timothy Archer", but I looked it up and it's actually Transmigration (which puts the story in a whole new perspective).
There's a Piers Anthony story called Transmogrification published in 1982 in "Fifty Extremely SF Stories" (not that I would admit to reading that Xanth crap).
The host names transmogrifier.com/net/org, transmogrifiers.com, and transmogrify.com/net/org are all taken, dammit. I figure that if Merriam Webster dates the word back to 1656, it's probably ok to use, although the unknown origin sounds a bit mysterious.

I wonder if there's a mathematical concept called a Transmogrification Matrix?

Unfortunately, changing the name would require editing lots of files (changing project names in Visual C++ is a pain, requiring changing file names and editing the .dsp file and class wizard files and stuff like that), as well as redoing the documentation and a bunch of the screen shots.

But the real reason I like Transmogrifier, is that it's an anagram for:

"Grin O'er Sim Fart" and
"Sim Grin Tore Far" and
"After Sim or Grin" and
"I Err on Sim Graft" and
"Sim Fag in Terror" and
"Rig Sim Afro Rent" and
"Sim Groin Fat Err" and
"I Err for Sim Gnat" and
"Nag if Sim Terror" and
"Frontier Sim Rag" and
"I Erg Sim Fortran" and
"Sim Train Fog Err" and
"Sim an Err of Trig" and
"Sim Ran for Tiger" and
"Sim Iran Erg Fort" and
"Sim Gore Rant Fir" and
"Sim Tar Freon Rig" and
"Sim Rat or Finger" and
"Reign for Sim Rat" and
"Sim Rat Err of Gin" and
"I Err Sim Ant Frog" and
"Rent Sim Frog Air" and
"Rare Tin Sim Frog" and
"Frog in Sim Terra" and
"Sim Frog Ain't Err" and
"Mini Frog Arrest" and
"Sierra Frog Mint" and
"Sim Art or Fringe" and
"Sim an Error Gift" and
"Seminar for Trig" and
"Go Sin Firm Terra" and
"Ream Fist or Ring" (Ewww! Reminds me of a scene from Caligula) and
"Smear it for Grin" and
"Ring for Mate Sir" and
"I'm Grin of Raster" and
"Arrest Minor Fig" and
"Granite from IRS" and
"Mean Grit for IRS" and
"Trim Anger of IRS" and
"Ingrate IRS Form" (those bastards)!

-Don

If you're 18 or older and don't mind fart jokes, click here for even more funny Transmogrifier anagrams!


Finally Will Wright weighs in, and calls off the lawyers.

From: Will Wright
Sent: Thursday, May 18, 2000 10:15 PM
To: Baena, Chris; Don Hopkins
Cc: Lucy Bradshaw
Subject: Re: SimTransmogrifier Documentation, Program and Example

Chris,

After looking around on the web (and consulting my Webster's dictionary) I believe Don is right.

I didn't realize that this was a real word (and one that has been around since around 1650).

I also found a bunch of shareware and freeware things that used the name so I think there's no problem with us using it.

-Will


So the answer to "Why Transmogrifier?" is: "Because it's a real old word, whose letters can be rearranged to spell 'I Fart Iron Germs'".