Name = profession

[George Thompson]

*This is further confirmation of The Shandy-Lack Theory of Onomastic
Determinism, which I have drawn to your attention several times before.
(Briefly, for those who weren't paying attention, it is the hypothesis that
one's name determines the future course of one's life, especially one's
choice of profession.  It was first presented by Walter Shandy, father of
Tristram Shandy, in Laurence Stern's novel of that title, and elaborated in
the mid-20th century by David Lack, an English ornithologist, who in an
essay that pointed out a number of noted ornithologists whose name was that
of a bird, or a part of a bird -- Wing, for instance -- or a bird's
activity -- Birdwhistle, for instance.)

In still further confirmation, I offer:
*

*"Other surveys, including one led by the aptly named Alan Heavens of the
University of Edinburgh a few years ago. . . ."
*

*From an article by Dennis Overbye about re**cent research in astronomy, in
the New York Times of November 19, 2012.
*
* *

* *
* *

*"The celebrity gardener Bob Flowerdew, in Dickleburgh, England, drew
criticism for opposing the plan to phase out peat."
*

*From an article by Andrew Testa in the New York Times of October 7, 2012*

*
*
* *

*At the age of seven, Duke Ellington began taking piano lessons from
Marietta Clinkscales.
*

*
*

*I think that this proposition has been verified often enough to be ranked
as a Theory, rather than a mere Hypothesis.
*
*
*GAT

On Fri, Mar 8, 2013 at 11:51 AM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:

> Leaving aside the question of whether a real urologist would actually have
> the name of Dick Chopp, where does name = profession on the link you sent?
>
> DanG
>
>
> On Fri, Mar 8, 2013 at 10:06 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> > Subject:      Name = profession
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Dr. Richard Chopp, board-certified urologist, whose specialties
> > include vasectomy, prostate cancer, and kidney stone disease.
> > http://www.urologyteam.com/node/2
> >
> > Joel
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much since then.

------------------------------------------------------------
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