12 May 04

Wion Shakedown

Note: This article was first published when The Colloquial Tongue was being run under the wion.com domain. TCT now has it’s own domain, as you can see. All references to the wion domain are with respect to wion.com.

When I first looked for a Web domain, I wanted something with all the usual good attributes: short and easy to remember, a dot-com extension, relevant to my personal and professional interests, etc. My last name, Wion (which is about the fifth spelling variation of what was originally a German name), seemed perfect in all respects. After conducting a few “whois” searches at the time, I found that wion by itself was pretty much untouched as a domain, except for wion.com (of course), which was being held by a squatter, waiting for someone like me to make an offer for it. Well I did make an offer and here we are. Since then I have been a little more interested in other wion-related Web sites and what they focus on, kind of like when you buy a car and then notice the same model everywhere you go. There are not a great many wion-related sites, but there are a few, and curious ones at that.

I found all of the sites by simply conducting a search for “wion” on Google and browsing through the first three pages or so of the returns. I won’t approach these in any particular order, and discussion of them at all is in no way an endorsement for the sites or whatever it is they are about. I add that little disclaimer because the first site in the return, as I was suprised to discover, and in fact many returns throughout several Google pages, is a distant relative of mine and I don’t want it to appear that I’m giving him a plug (looks like he doesn’t need it anyway).

John Wion, it seems, is a very accomplished flutist, and played for the New York City Opera for 37 years (ending in 2002). He has multiple CDs of his own, and is currently a faculty professor of flute and chamber music at The Hartt School. So how do I know I’m related to this guy? Well John seems to have an interest in geneology, and he’s put together an impressive collection of Wion family history online, and after spending some time floundering…er…uh…navigating through the site, I found my grandfather (Arthur Lawson Wion) and my father (Kenneth Arthur Wion) listed on a sixth generation page. That would make me eighth generation, but the tree doesn’t grow that deep. The surname, Wion, is so unique that I’m certain every single Wion in America (and elsewhere) is a relative in some way or another; but I guess that is not saying much since we all came from Mitochondrial Eve anyway. In any case, most of the link returns on the first three Google pages is a link to something related to John Wion. Roots indeed.

A note to John: John old boy, you have a wonderful collection of history there, and content in general, but speaking from a Web design point of view, your site needs a bit of help; at the worst it is very user-unfriendly (hard to navigate, confusing structure, no search abilities, and so on), and at the least it’s not very attractive in the esthetic department. No offense to you John, I’m sure you’re a fine chap, but you really need the help of a Web designer; after all, you have a lot of regal content there. If you’re inclined to give it an overhall, I think I know somebody.

Moving on, and according to this silly service, “Wion is the 44,863rd most popular last name (surname) in the United States”—(based on 1990 data). Boy, that’s a long cheese line.

Another series of Web sites that come up referencing WION are related to some kind of ball sport in The Netherlands called korfbal. Judging from the few pictures that I’ve seen online, korfbal looks like a combination of soccer and basketball—hoops played on a grass field. Seems significant to the Dutch.

Thorsten Gumball creates and produces his own music. One of his first major projects is under the name wion and served up at his site Wion Beats. Thorsten’s wion project section has some cool tidbits, like:

“wion gives a deliberate room for any moods and time for the own moments of the listener. But at the same time the compact thoughts and sensations by melodie, groove and coolness captivate the listener of such a kind that he or she will devote into the spell of magic.”

I love it! You can even have a listen to the single titled, you guessed it, Wion.

And finally, to wrap up my little exploration into the cyberworld of Wion-ness, there’s a French actress, Emmanuelle Wion who seems to be working steadily in theatre.

My own domain, wion.com (and the two sites it is currently supporting) is still new and therefore not yet listed anywhere in Google’s returns. I’m hoping (and one would think) that wion.com will be item number one on the first page of results for a Google search on “wion.” We shall see.

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EDIT: It was brought to my attention that some information I originally noted above was no longer accurate. In those instances I have gladly corrected, changed, or removed comments entirely, as the case needed. Feel free to notify me if I have commented about your site incorrectly.