Saturday, May 12

Odds and Ends


I have been keeping a list of funny names since back in the 60's, when I worked in a hospital and had to go back through some very old records for a research project. Lately, the obits and newspaper articles have been grist for the list. Last week, I saw an obituary for twin infants that I could hardly believe. The babies had been named "Pooh" and "Tigger". They weren't nicknames either - but their real names. Don't you think that's crass?
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Go here to read an excellent post about the advent of rhythm and blues/soul in the 50's:

I was going to do a continuation of the music meme that Farrago tapped me for, but when I read this, I decided that the Blog Brother said it better than I could! And for absolutely unbelieveable photos of lightning strikes all over the world - go here!!

http://thrillingwonder.blogspot.com/2007/05/spectacular-lightning-strikes.html

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For those who asked: I got the date of the neighborhood luncheon wrong - it is next Tuesday the 15th. They didn't stand me up after all..... LOL
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I read my newspaper horoscope every morning. Even though it may be of no real value for prognostication, it is often full of good common sense. I remember reading something this week that I wanted to blog about. I don't know if it was the horoscope or one of the advice columns, but here is the gist of it:
If you find yourself in "hot water", you can react to it in one of two ways.
Consider the potato .....it uses the heat from the boiling water to cook itself. Or, you can do as coffee grinds do......you can allow the hot water to soak through, while coloring and flavoring the water with your essence. Food for thought.



21 comments:

Melody said...

Spectacular lightening strikes alright!!! How awesome are they? And bloody scary too if you were caught in one of them storms. Brr. Mother Nature is pretty awesome, isn't she. There is something like a lighting strike across the world every second of the day.

I'm here via Michele today Kenju.

jac said...

hi kenju! nice digs you got here! i'm here via michele's meet 'n greet tonight.
i have always been interested in unique names, but i have NEVER run across "tigger" and "pooh". not really sure what was going on there.
lightening....beautiful to watch. it really is amazing to watch what mother nature can do when she feels like tossing us a light show. it's so easy to be mesmerized.

Unknown said...

My friend Neener and I have both collected odd names forever. Now, when we see one, we email the other to share. I'm telling you, there are som very BIZARRE parents out there, and not just amongst the celebrities. I love weird names.

Anonymous said...

This horoscope bit is almost too difficult for me to understand ;)

Prego said...

One of my friends worked a customer service job for an insurance company. Every once in a while he'd come across a gem.

Friend: What's your child's name?
Client: Bourbon
Friend: I'm sorry. Can you repeat that?
Client: BOURbon.
Friend: How do you spell that?
Client: B-O-U....

Prego said...

here via michele...

M-I-C...

Carolyn said...

Lightening strikes are breathtaking but they frighten the bejesus outta me! And I hope lightening doesn't strike twice regarding you in the shower. I didn't realize you'd fallen! Glad you didn't break anything but hope your soreness is better! I can recommend someone for a good butt massage if need be ;)

Beverly said...

i'm sure working in a hospital you did see some interesting names. Teaching first grade brought some smiles too. We had a little girl once named AquaNet. Then there were the people who had twins and named them DeNiece and DeNephew.

Tia said...

Hi Kenju! I LLLOVE the potato vs. coffee grinds thought! Thanks for sharing that!

Unknown said...

Whenever someone mentions names, I think back to a classmate in elementary school. His name was Williams William Williams. The teacher would always call him William and he would correct her that his name was Williams. I don't know what his parents were thinking. He eventually ended up going by Bill in high school.

MaR said...

oh, names. You know some ladies in Spain are named Camino ("road") or Salud ("health")?
The lightning stikes are spectacular! I love watching them when I am in a safe place but I have never been able to take a pic of one of them...

carmilevy said...

I think if people want to hang crazy names like Tigger and Pooh on any members of their family, they should stick to the pets and be somewhat more kind with their human offspring.

I'm one to talk, of course, but even my name, different as it is, isn't embarrassing on the surface. Pooh, on the other hand, would have gotten me beaten up in the playground.

Sad that they both passed away in infanthood.

Shephard said...

I have a saying re: the concept behind the potato/coffee grounds.

Be a sieve, not a sponge. :) I learned that ages ago, and it's a wonderful thing to keep in the back of my mind, whether I'm dealing with people or stressful situations. :)

Fun post!
~S

rosemary said...

There is a local family...fairly prominent..in our town that has named their children for the places where they were conceived and they tell anyone that looks like they might ask about the names...they are: Rio, Selkirk (our local mountains) and LaPaz...then there is Hope Rainbow and her sister Precious (rainbow being their "adopted" last names)..and the ever famous Little Feather Rock...she legally changed it.

sage said...

nice paraphrase there with the history of Jazz--as for the kids names, I am so sad at the thought of both dying that I couldn't think about the names--did the parents know the lives of the children would be so short? Was this a way to cope? my daughter calls her granddad Tigger, but that's not his real name.

The Mistress of the Dark said...

Tigger and Pooh! Oh my goodness. How could you do that to anyone, even a child...that died at birth.

Yikes!

Michele says hi btw.

Thumper said...

While Pooh and Tigger are certainly unique name choices, I don't think it's crass. I think it's parents who were grieving hard and gave their children the pet names that they would have whispered in the middle of the night had they lived. If you know your kid is going to die--and being that they were twins I would guess they knew it was happening--you cope the best you can, and if giving the kids cute little nicknames helps...

Kristi said...

Pooh and Tigger? Oh my goodness. I have no words.

How are these in comparison: one of my younger sister's friends is named Starlyt. Her last name? Knight. Starylt Knight.

And one of my husband's former students is named Silver Fox.

Krazy.

Badaunt said...

Those lightning strike photos are FABULOUS. (One day when I grow up I'm going to learn how to take pictures like that.)

awareness said...

I have a client who named her daughter Abcde.....honest to God. I thought that was a boys name! :)

Cris said...

We picked up names for our children that could be pronounced the same way in English and our native language, that has worked so far. :-)