Names With Zing

[Wilson Gray]

Attila the Hun, I presume, though I can't guess what he did next. Do I
really want to? FWIW, when I was a kid, his name was "ATT-ila," from
which its modern Gerrnan descendant, Etzel, is easily derived.

Deathers O'Flanagan and Dingwall Fleary are a couple of names of real people.

Until I got to high school, I had no idea of the full range of
surnames available to white people. Some quite ordinary names, such as
"Faherty," "Hoogstraet," "Yoch," "Zupez," and "Koziatek" (especially
when combined with his first name of "Kazimir") initially struck me as
so absolutely ridiculous when roll was called for the first time in
homeroom that I nearly had a heart attack from the effort involved in
surpressing my laughter. "Higginsbotham" was the strangest surname
that I had previously encountered. And this was just one guy. In high
school, I had to deal with hundreds of, to me, weirdo surnames at
once. The white people living in the hood had names like "Adams,"
"Jones" (both of which are also quite common among blacks, of course)
"Rohay," and "Rosen" and I was only six years old when I first heard
them, long before I'd drawn any conclusion as to what constituted an
"ordinary" surname.

-Wilson

On 6/13/07, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Names With Zing
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> About twenty years ago, the _Weekly World News_ reported on a horrible experience. An elderly lady joined a seance to attempt to contact her sister, Matilda the nun, who had recently passed over.
>
>   Owing to a faulty psychic connection, guess who showed up and wha he did next?
>
>   JL
>
> Darla Wells <dlw3208 at LOUISIANA.EDU> wrote:
>   ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Darla Wells
> Subject: Re: Names With Zing
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I remember all the neat burlesque names from when I was a kid, like Tempest
> Storm and Candy Barr. The roller derby ladies in Seattle have some good ones:
>
> White Team Members: Jowanna Ass-Kickin', Matilda the Hun, Ann R. Kissed,
> Hideous Braxley, Dirty Little Secret, Meg My Day, Carmen Getsome, Rollin'
> Bayou, Billie Boilermaker, and Rebel Belle
>
> Green Team Members: D-Bomb, Miss Fortune, Burnett Down, Drew Blood, Rettig to
> Rumble, Edie Brickwall, Valtron 3000, Katarina Whip, Tash-ya Round, and Juliet
> Bravo
>
> http://www.ratcityrollergirls.com/photos.html
>
> Darla
>
> With magic, you can turn a frog into a prince. With science, you can turn a
> frog into a Ph.D and you still have the frog you started with. (Terry Pratchett)
>
> ---------- Original Message -----------
> From: Doug Harris
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Sent: Tue, 12 Jun 2007 23:52:02 -0400
> Subject: Names With Zing
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> > Sender: American Dialect Society
> > Poster: Doug Harris
> > Subject: Names With Zing
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > That is not, of course, the subject head we
> > were using a few days or so ago re the matter
> > of names that live on in memory for their...
> > well, for their 'zing'.
> > 'Just watched the movie Biloxi Blues, in which
> > several WWII era soldier have their initial
> > introduction to in-the-flesh sex, and sex with
> > a prostitute. The latter character's name was
> > Rowena, which could be said to sound sort of
> > prostitutey in a Biloxi sort of way.
> > The actress who played Rowena was named Park
> > Overall. Now _THERE's a prostitutey name for
> > ya!!!
> > (the other) doug
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> ------- End of Original Message -------
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--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
                                              -Sam'l Clemens

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