Okay, but ya didn't hear it from me, right?

There are 40 posts tagged: what's in a name?

'Racist' royals: 1 December 2023; Okay, so we all know that the marriage between Prince Harry and actress Meghan Markle was not without controversy. And then a baby came along.
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The Little Merpuppy: 3 October 2023; A six-legged spaniel puppy has been rescued after having been dumped in a supermarket car park in Pembroke Dock, Pembrokeshire, Wales. Staff at Fenton Vets named her Ariel, after Disney's little mermaid, because her additional back legs are partially fused together, resembling a mermaid's tail…
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That'll do, Duck, that'll do: 18 September 2023; A report of an Australian being fined for taking his pet snake surfing closes by mentioning that Rainbow Bay also boasts its own surfing duck, fittingly enough named Duck. Quack!
Taking the PiS: 16 September 2023; A news item on a cash-for-visas scandal in Poland is most notable for introducing me to the country's governing Law and Justice party, PiS. Well, it made me laugh anyway. (embarrassed)
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PG tips: 21 March 2023; I hadn't read of the deaths of Indonesian children after taking tainted cough syrup before now, but the cause of death being acute kidney injury told me that this was the same issue as reported earlier in The Gambia and Uzbekistan. I wouldn't have noted it here, though, if my pedantry hackles hadn't been raised:
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Name that boy: 13 March 2023; I came across this handy-and-dandy list of one-syllable names for baby boys, compiled by Jacqueline at Parent Portfolio:
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Ghey not gay: 15 February 2023; A transgender girl was stabbed to death in Warrington, Cheshire, a few days ago, in what may've been a hate crime. Police are exploring all lines of inquiry as to motive, but that hasn't stopped transgender activists from leaping to the conclusion that best favours their special and victimised me-me-me viewpoint, cynically exploiting a child's murder in furtherance of their political agenda. (trannie)
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A man who knows his onions: 5 July 2022; CNN host Don Lemon's surname is pronounced the same as the citrus fruit. It's recently come to my attention that Fox News' Tucker Carlson apparently pronounces it as Le-Mon—similar to Duran Duran's Simon Le Bon. Perhaps Carslon's retarded. (shrug)
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Richard the Third: 14 June 2022; There's been a lot of commentary following the outcome of the Johnny Depp/Amber Heard defamation trial. One of the highlights of the case, which has been the source of much hilarity and derision, was the revelation—although I'm pretty sure that it was publicly known years ago—of Heard taking a dump in the marital bed, and later trying to pass the blame onto one of the couple's lapdogs. She now lives in infamy as Amber Turd.
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How anonymous is a name?: 7 June 2022; Joanna York discusses the inequalities of post-pandemic workplace presence: executive managers who require the hoi polloi to drag their sorry arses back into the office, while themselves maintaining remote working practices.
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The dog's gotta go: 26 March 2022; When not recognising my excellence in the fields of obesity and diabetes, John Wick's gunning for my thoughts on gynaecology and obstetrics. He obviously considers me to be some sort of jack-of-all-trades. Perhaps the polite term would be polymath? (thinking)
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Hitman meets fatman: 18 March 2022; Rent boy by day, hitman by night, John Wick's tracked me down. As long as I don't kill his dog though, I should be fine.
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You can't call me Al: 15 March 2022; Musing on the passing of William Hurt, who received four Oscar nominations during his career: the only one of those films that I've seen is Broadcast News. It's definitely okay, and I didn't regret too much the time that I spent watching it. I never need see it again though.
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Jess and obesity: 22 February 2022; United Research Forum is back, with another wannabe celebrity conference organiser. Or is Jessie not Sarah Jessica Parker's nickname?*
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Emma, is that really you?: 10 February 2022; It appears that international conferences on traditional medicine are really quite the thing. Scientific Meetings are not only organising a hydrid ICTM-2022 in September, but also a virtual one in April. Or are they? (thinking)
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Halo, is it me you're looking for?: 1 February 2022; A live-action TV series of the Halo game franchise is coming to the Paramount+ streaming service. The trailers are…grandiose and bombastic.
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Peachy: 21 January 2022; Counting down his choice of The Top Ten Worst Hit Songs of 2021, Todd in the Shadows muses on the banality of Justin Bieber's Peaches, ft. Daniel Caesar and Giveon.
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Close, but no cigar: 30 October 2021; Years ago, around sixteen to be precise, I mused on the unlikelihood that there was an actor named Connery Bonds.
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Snow what?: 24 June 2021; In what could be seen as just another race-bait move, Disney has cast Latina actress Rachel Zegler as Snow White in their upcoming live action remake of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Casting for characters of restricted height has yet to be announced, but it's unlikely that Ray Winstone, Toby Jones, Ian McShane et al. will be invited to reprise their roles from Snow White and the Huntsman, since that would be taking work from genuinely diminutive actors.
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There, but for the letter 'h': 24 June 2021; A claim that a South African woman had given birth to decuplets has been shown to be false. The woman in question, Gosiame Sithole, is now being held for observation under the mental health act.
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Privates on parade: 20 May 2021; Yet another German terrorist plot. And, once again, under German privacy rules the suspect's surname cannot be revealed. In this case, the suspect is a military officer who's only named by the BBC as Lt Franco A.
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Doris the Minor: 12 April 2021; Today I learned, through a combination of web forum surfing and Wiki-whacking, that Herod the Great's wife was named Doris. Or, more accurately, one of his wives—for he had several.
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The name game: 15 January 2021; Mithering on behalf of BBC Worklife, Zulekha Nathoo explains Why getting a name right matters. If you can't be bothered to read the whole article, you're not alone. It's just another whinge about mispronunciation of names, and how it's your fault if you struggle with someone's name.
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Gone(ish), but not forgotten: 9 December 2020; Deadnaming is the practice of referring to a transgender person by the name that they used before they transitioned, even if that's only a trans-lite conversion. So Elliot Page's deadname is Ellen. Using the deadname is considered bad etiquette among the coddled minorities, as is using the wrong pronouns. And the queers on social media, who have nothing constructive to do with their lives, take it very seriously. (snowflake)
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Just a regular guy: 2 December 2020; In what appears to be a desperate attempt to stay relevant in the public consciousness, Ellen Page has come out. Again. Strewth, is she ever in for more than five minutes?
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Just think of the children!: 26 August 2020; Contentious, or just straight-out whacked children's names are nothing new. But, sometimes parents don't have to be trying too hard to potentially spoil their child's hopes of love, employment, and future happiness.
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Taking a fall: 8 August 2020; I'd not heard of Jerry Falwell Jr, the president of Liberty University, a US evangelical Christian college, until he stepped down from his position following an unfortunate social media faux pas in which he posted a photo of him with his arm around a pregnant woman who wasn't his wife. For shame!
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A dog with no name: 16 July 2020; RAF Scampton—the home of 617 Squadron, The Dambusters—has replaced the gravestone of the squadron's mascot, a black Labrador named Nigger, who died on the night of the famous raid on the Ruhr dams in 1943. Squadron Leader Guy Gibson, whose dog he was, named him because, at the time, nigger was not a derogatory reference, rather simply the name for a shade of black.
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You really couldn't make this up. But someone actually did!: 15 July 2020; I love a good conspiracy theory, they affirm my cynicism towards secrecy and often big government, but the best ones have a ring of truth about them. Which is more than can be said of the Wayfair child trafficking conspiracy theory.
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Lady A at war with Lady A: 11 July 2020; Following the death of George Floyd, and amid a reappraisal of racially insensitive practices, country trio Lady Antebellum changed their name to Lady A. Which is unfortunate, since Anita White has performed under that same name for two decades. Now Lady A(ntebellum) are suing Lady A(nita).
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Mrs Ragnhild Lilly Button: 29 November 2019; This item in my junk mail folder leapt out at me, simply because of the sender's (alleged) name…Mrs Ragnhild Lilly Button. Whoever came up with that has a sense of humour to match mine, and they should feel ashamed.
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Amusing spam: 3 February 2016; Occasionally, an amusing spam message comes my way. This, for instance, from Mr Tzee Pepple:
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Stable door, bolted horse, etc., etc.: 18 June 2013; A married teacher who ran off with a pupil to France is in court accused of child abduction. According to the BBC: Jeremy Forrest, 30, and the girl, who cannot be named, took a cross-Channel ferry to Calais before spending seven days on the run.
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And don't call me Shirley!: 2 February 2013; Bjork Eidsdottir didn't realise that when she named her daughter Blaer, which means light breeze in Icelandic, she was actually giving her child a male name. Because light breeze is such a masculine name, isn't it? (rolleyes)
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Savile row: 16 November 2012; During investigations into child abuse at Welsh children's homes, one victim implicated a high-ranking Conservative Party official in a recent Newsnight broadcast. Apparently the individual wasn't named during the programme, but later Twitter chatter wrongly named former party treasurer Lord McAlpine.
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Saudi Arabia is not feeling .gay: 15 August 2012; Saudi Arabia has objected to several new global top level domains (gTLD), including .gay, on the basis that they may offend, or promote practices that are counter to their religion. The poofs, on the other hand, counter that .gay is needed for support.
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The importance of the letter 's': 26 July 2010; In an otherwise dull Hollywood legal story, the name of lawyer Michael Plonsker struck me as a matter of if-not-good-it-could-have-been-worse luck.
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The irony is almost touching!: 6 May 2010; A KKK leader has shot dead a recruit named Lynch.
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I name this spoon: 7 April 2009; Ikea even go so far as to name their soddin' spoons FFS. And they're all called Ivan (or whatever).
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Unfortunate typo: 8 April 2004; A US manufacturer sent me an e-mail with contact details for their European distributor, a guy called Jon Blows.
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