"Ima Hogg" redux

[Doug Harris]

Oh, and I used to know a Michael Hunt, who was _never_ called Mike. To his
face, anyway.
(the other) doug

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I remind colleagues again that one of the best reads in American
onomastics is Thomas Pyles' "Bible Belt Onomastics" (Names 7 [June
1959]: 84-200). There you will find parents much crueler than the
Hoggs, Hoeres, and Hookers (e.g., the Days who named there daughter
Pamela Gay; the Sweats, who named their daughter Alure; the
Turnipseeds who named their daughter Etta, the Pickles who named
their son Dill  (who became a pickle salesman); the Fails who named
their son Never (who did not make it through high school), and on and
on).

dInIs
>
>When I was a teenager, I once met a girl named "Emma Hoare." Now, I've
>recently met "Anita Hooker."
>
>Some parents are absolutely merciless.
>
>-Wilson
>--
>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
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org


--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
15C Morrill Hall
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824
517-353-4736
preston at msu.edu

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org