The Danger of Reading Travel Essays When You Are Trying To Name Your Company
I recently attended the NAMM trade show in Anaheim, CA, where I was showing off the Kava Laptop Studio Bag as well as my first prototype sample of the Big Namba Studio Backpack. One of the questions that keep being asked was, “where did you come up with the name Namba Gear for your company? Once I told the story, it seemed unanimous that I should share it with my readers. So here is the story, with the warning that if you are easily offended by the word “penis” that you shouldn’t read any further.
A Short History of the Differences Between The Big Namba and The Small Namba
I came across a little known piece of “new” information when I stopped at London’s Heathrow airport at the beginning of 2007 on a flight from Berlin to Los Angeles. Well, at any rate, I didn’t know it and none of my friends knew about it, so it was new info to us.
One of the more confusing things that Maarten encountered was an active hostility between two island factions that had lasted hundreds of years. The native islanders seemed to be divided into two groups that continually fought. These two clans called themselves the Big Nambas and the Small Nambas, and to Maarten’s eye they looked exactly alike. How did they even know who was a Big Namba and who was a Small Namba, he had wondered?
The mystery started to unravel when Maarten learned that “namba” simply meant leaf. However, it was a specific leaf that the native men tie to the end of their penis and hangs between their legs to protect “the family jewels” as the men walk through the jungle. In an almost unbelievable attitude of male machismo, the Big Nambas prefer a big leaf as it may make their “equipment” look larger; while the Small Nambas perhaps believe that it is more manly to offer the occasional view of their “baggage” (sort of like your Uncle Ernie hanging out at the pool when you suddenly realise that he has spread his legs apart and there is nothing under his swim shorts but… Uncle Ernie).
Actually, as hot and humid as it is in some climes, this “dress your penis in a leaf” idea makes some sense to me. But the funny part is that they are using the size of the leaf as a source of conflict between them. It’s not as if the boys are fighting about the comparative size of their manhood, which is silly enough. No, this is about the size of the damn leaf!
Namba Gear Named From Vanuatu Tribes
READ RELATED ARTICLES: Namba Gear
Get Your NAMBA GEAR