Choice of Words
When Sam decided to enter the beverage business, there were many expectations. Given so much speculation and "sources", what really took everyone by surprise was the choice of the name for the whisky: Sassenach. Why choose a brand for his products with a word that is attributed to another character in the show he works and not to the character who made him famous and opened the doors of the world for him? Why not something like JAMMF, A. Malcon or Lallybroch? The justifications given for choosing the name also make no sense. If Sassenach is "spirit of home" and "home" is Scotland, why use a word that was primarily a term used to refer (in a derogatory way) to the English? The word gained another connotation among Outlander fans because the character Jamie Fraser started using it to refer to Claire, aka, the love of his life. But, getting back to my ramblings, why didn't Sam choose a brand name that was more specifically related to Jamie? Why use something that would make more sense to be on products sold by his co-star, as he himself said, "the original Sassenach"? Today, in the post about Everest, specifically in the video, I had the feeling that I was seeing something that was not originally made for us mere mortal consumers. The Sassenach was there with him, the little whisky bottle, on top of the world. I don't know if I'm the last romantic, but there's something that people in love do when they're far from each other: we carry the person in our hearts and in something that represents them, sometimes it's an object and sometimes even a piece of paper with that person's name written on it. Then, I realized how smart he was in choosing this word to represent his products. The first love tartan (if I'm not mistaken, registered on Valentine's Day), the post "my baby had a baby", and now " the Sassenach on top of the world"... who can say that he is not talking just about his whisky? Choosing the word Sassenach was a brave choice on his part. A word that will stay in his life forever, even in twenty years when the TV series will be just history, within the ephemerality of the industry. It takes courage and a lot of certainty about what you want in life. Above all, you have to love someone very much to make this kind of tribute.
