Look up. Look WAAAAY up.
The Friendly Giant
The LookWAYup dictionary was named in 2000 without any of us realizing why the name appealed to us. But then when the children's television entertainer Bob Homme died, we suddenly remembered.
Starting in 1953 in Wisconsin, and later moved to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Bob Homme played "The Friendly Giant". To the tune of "Early One Morning" on recorder and harp, children were invited into the castle to cozy up into a rocking chair rocked by a giant hand. "One little chair for one of you, and a bigger chair for two to curl up in, and for someone who likes to rock, a rocking chair in the middle." The kids were then instructed to "Look up. Waaaay up." The camera would pan up to the giant's gentle face.
The giant and his puppet friends Jerome the giraffe and Rusty the rooster would then regale children with their banter, music, books, and story telling. That rooster puppet could sure play the harp.
LookWAYup is more than just a database look up, spitting out its string of characters in response to your string of characters. It is meant to be engaging, helpful, and interactive, and not to intimidate you with its size.