I don’t care for the word “brainstorm.” As a former epilepsy patient, the word has negative connotations for me. Looking at a thesaurus hasn’t given us any words we do like. So, does anyone have any suggestions for a better word that has the same idea of people collaborating and suggesting ideas that all can discuss?
Invented words are fine with me. I love that kind of wordplay.
Is the word brain out? or just the word brainstorm?
mind share
Idea storm/dump/mixing bowl/
Some variation of ‘tossing it/the idea in the hat’ could work
Eureka moment?
Imaginating.
Thoughtspewing.
SERTing. (from Say Every Random Thing)
Strategy session
Cerebral Soufflé
A puree of various thoughts which when baked, puff up to a viable idea!
OP, you may use this term for free (with attribution). Everybody else needs to pay me $10 a pop.
What’s usually called brainstorming is not a collection of good ideas. It’s throwing in ALL the ideas including the terrible and stupid ones, and resolving not to judge censor or edit them until after the session is finished.
Well, I teach the creative process, and there are two different uses of “brainstorm”. One is what most of us are talking about here, the collaborative “bouncing ideas off each other” process, often used by creative types as an early step of idea generation.
But the way many people use it is as a “Eureka!” Moment: “I was stuck trying to figure out a solution, but then, I was out golfing in the rain and had a ‘bolt out of the blue’”…
Hmm, I just realized that it isn’t just a turn of phrase; the “storm” imagery fits. So if anyone objects to the term, they may have to lighten up… it sounds like the phrase is here to stay.
That’s a mistake - or at least an omission. The word “brainstorm” was initially used to mean “epileptic seizure”; the newer meaning is borrowed from it. Not that that’s particularly evil, but still it’s easy to understand the reluctance to use it.
Spitballing?
Idea inundation?
Thought torrent?
I have no answer for the OP, but a friend of mine did a documentary about her struggles (and others) with epilepsy called Brainstorm.
How about calling it a ‘discussion’? Failing that - a ‘Thought Orgy’?
Brain wave.
As I stated in the OP, I’m thinking about when a group just states ideas, all are written down, and they are discussed later. It has become a common word in education.
Because of that meaning, I have never used brainstorm for a Eureka! moment. Eureka! works fine for that. Besides, I like the reminder of one of the best TV shows ever.
I was going to suggest “mind meeting” myself. Googling, it appears that at least one other person uses that phrase.
I like the sound of “mind share” better, though. But they both kind of sound like corporate-speak.
I used to call a sudden epiphany a Jessica Fletcher Moment. On Murder, She Wrote, someone would say something, and Jessica would get this OMG look on her face that meant, I-understand-everything-now! It was as inevitable as “you-meddling-kids”.
Perhaps ‘epiphany’ is what you’re looking for though.
I’ve heard the word Bluesky used.
Seems it has different US and UK meanings. I’m offering the UK one.
j
SWOT session used to be a term in vogue.
I originally thought it meant See What’s Out There.
Then I was asked to participate in one and it was much more structured.
We spent several minutes each discussing our team’s
[ul]
[li]Strengths[/li][li]Weaknesses[/li][li]Opportunities[/li][li]Threats[/li][/ul]
But I suspect the term may be outdated now.
And the Eureka moment is an epiphany, right Mr. House?
–G!
Smee: Ay! I just had an apostrophe!
Hook: You mean ephiphany.
Smee: Yeah, well, one o’ those things.
…–Hook
“Ideate” seems to be coming into fashion but I hate that even more than “brainstorm.”