When you’re in a Microsoft Word document and want to create a new one, the menu item you want is named Project Gallery. I never remember that. I go up there looking for the New Document or Create Document item. It gets me every time. Then I skip around a bit, and eventually open Project Gallery when my memory and that item’s position at the top of the menu bar cue me. Amazon.com, on the other hand has some pretty sweet names, and I bet you never even noticed.

“More items to consider”, “Today’s recommendations for you” and “Your recent history” aren’t very exciting. But they’re clear. I don’t have to tell you what’s going to come next. “What’s happening” for twitter status does the job better than “Status” even though both are clear. That’s because it takes users into the world of twitter, where things happen faster than they do on Facebook. But if the choice is between expected but clear and ownable but not clear, that’s no choice at all. No matter how often you play, paper wraps rock every time.