"Upset" & other nomenological phenomena

[Baker, John]

        IIRC, the Shandy theory (which was not Tristram's but his Father's) did hold that certain names (for example, "Tristram") were ill-fated, while other ("Trismegistus," "Martin Luther") confer advantages on their holders.  I'm not familiar with the Lack refinements to the theory.  The theory does not hold that names direct one's fate in a superficial way; I'm not fated to work as a baker, in spite of my surname.  I had a college professor who had a related theory, that women choose their husbands on the basis of what their married name would be.  I suppose that theory must be weakened with the contemporary practice of wives keeping their maiden names.

        There must be something to the Shandy theory, or actors wouldn't so routinely change their names for commercial reasons.

John Baker


-----Original Message-----
From: George Thompson [mailto:george.thompson at NYU.EDU]
Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2002 10:55 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: "Upset" & other nomenological phenomena


This discussion has drifted away from the true meaning of the Shandy-Lack Theory.  Rather than names that have become ill-omened because of shame incurred by a previous holder of the name, we should be we should be discussing people who became baseball players because they were named Poppup or linguists because they were named Particple.  A few more positive examples of the Theory in action, and it can be elevated to a Law, just as the example of Upset elevated it from an Hypothesis to a Theory.

GAT