Yankee Candles Levels of Abstraction

Alex McMillan reads Yankee Candle fragrance names as a ladder of abstraction, from the literal ("Black Cherry") up to the fully conceptual ("Inspire"), and proposes eight rungs in between, echoing academic work on how color names abstract away from specific wavelengths. The playful argument is that naming is itself a design decision: the more abstract the name, the more it becomes a small puzzle for the reader, which can heighten interest rather than diminish it. It is a charming reminder that abstraction is everywhere once you start looking, not just in code.