FUNNY NAMES IN THE NEWS

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A ROSE IS A RUSE IS A RABBLE-ROUSER

YOUTUBE: FOX NEWS
"Jesse Ventura On Fox And Friends Debating Water Boarding"
MAN NAMED AFTER FREEWAY RUNS OVER TALKING HEAD


WHAT'S IN A NAME? I DUNNO, BUNCHA LETTERS, I GUESS?

Ironies Abound, Absurdities Astound, Morons Can Go Pound Sand

OK, grow up! Just because some one or some thing has a funny-sounding name... HEY! I said GROW UP, Schickelgruber! Who are you to laugh? And it's MISTER Cosanostradamus, to you!


REUTERS
"Toll Brothers homebuilding revenue dives 51 percent"
And the house cookies are crumbling!

' Toll Brothers Inc (TOL.N) said on Wednesday that it expected to report a 51 percent drop in quarterly homebuilding revenue, but said new orders had improved from the prior period, reflecting a seasonal upturn. '

CONGRESSIONAL QUARTERLY
"Democrat Chu, Republican Chu to Face Off for Vacant California House Seat"
Chu - Chu? Was this in Chattanooga? Do they swallow, too?

' Democrat Judy Chu, a member of California's tax equalization board, won the crucial Democratic nomination in Tuesday's special primary election for the state's vacant 32nd Congressional District seat. Chu now will be heavily favored to win the July 14 special general election for the seat that former incumbent Hilda L. Solis vacated in February to become President Barack Obama's Labor secretary. The 32nd District, located in east Los Angeles and some near-in suburbs, is overwhelmingly Democratic. In fact, the biggest problem Chu is likely to face in the runoff round is name confusion. The winner of the Republican nomination is Betty Tom Chu, a Monterey Park city councilwoman, whom local news reports say is related to Judy Chu by marriage. '

US NEWS & WORLD REPORT
"Republicans Say No to "Democrat-Socialist" Resolution and Clown Suits"
Now if they could just stop wearing the great big shoes, and all piling into one little car...

' Give credit where it's due: RNC Chairman Michael Steele managed some successful party leadership today. Though in all fairness, that leadership essentially took the form of convincing his fellow Republicans not to dress up in a collective clown suit and convey their policy preferences through air horn blasts. From CNN.com: Members of the Republican National Committee appear to have reached a compromise that would let GOP leaders avoid a possible dispute over a controversial resolution that calls on Democrats to re-name their party the "Democrat Socialist party." Steele has come out against the resolution, calling it "not an appropriate way to express our views on the issues of the day." One of Steele's allies on the committee, Florida GOP chairman Jim Greer, told CNN the resolution is "stupid" and "ridiculous." So... instead of re-nicknaming the Democratic Party (which they already call the Democrat Party) as the "Democrat Socialist Party," they're going simply vote to condemn the "Democrats' march toward socialism." What's really both funny and scary about all of this is how seriously the fringe-nuts in the GOP take it. According to the Washington Post, one RNC member who authored the Democrat-Socialist resolution had this to say: "This will be an opportune time for the RNC to exert bold and aggressive leadership by the passage of these resolutions, which our members and supporters are crying out for and which the American people need and deserve," one of the authors of resolution, Jim Bobb, an RNC member from Indiana, told the committee in a letter. '

CONTRA COSTA TIMES
"What's in name? Facebook may think its fake"
Hey,man, don't trust anybody who doesn't use their real name on line!

' Alicia Istanbul woke up one recent Wednesday to find herself locked out of the Facebook account she opened in 2007, one Facebook suddenly deemed fake. The stay-at-home mom was cut off not only from her 330 friends, including many she had no other way of contacting, but also from the pages she had set up for the jewelry design business she runs from her Atlanta-area home. Although Istanbul understands why Facebook insists on having real people behind real names for every account, she wonders why the online hangout didn't simply ask before acting. "They should at least give you a warning, or at least give you the benefit of the doubt," she said. "I was on it all day. I had built my entire social network around it. That's what Facebook wants you to do." Facebook's effort to purge its site of fake accounts, in the process knocking out some real people with unusual names, marks yet another challenge for the 5-year-old social network. '

WIRED
"Why Your Baby’s Name Will Sound Like Everyone Else’s"
Because they can only pronounce names beginning with ga-ga?

' Emma was the most popular baby girl name of 2008, the Social Security Administration announced today, supplanting Emily, which had held the slot for the past 12 years. Both names, though, reflect a much deeper and largely unnoticed naming trend, which has played out over decades. At the beginning of the last century, names beginning with vowels, like Amanda, dominated the name popularity charts. But slowly their usage fell, bottoming out in the middle of the century as the consonant names, like David or Donna, rose to prominence. Recently, the vowels have been creeping back up to dominance. '

THE MODERATE VOICE
"What’s in a Name? A Dutch Name, That Is."
Och, dem Hollanders! What a low country! A veritable neder-nederland!

' Prior to the Napoleonic era in Holland, family names were not legally required. As a result of the establishment of mandatory and official registration of births, marriages and deaths and for purposes of the census, taxation, conscription, etc., the Dutch who did not have “fixed surnames and given names” were required to adopt a fixed, permanent family name. Many patronymics did become permanent family names—such as today’s very common Peters, Jansen, Willems, Hansen, etc. Consistent with the Dutch independent mind, pragmatism, stubbornness, and yes, sense of humor, thousands upon thousands of Dutch did not take Napoleon seriously. Perhaps, they even wanted to rebel in their own way, or to mock Napoleon and his system—play a practical joke on the French occupiers. Additionally, they looked at this “name system” as a temporary law that would be repealed once Napoleon left Holland. So, they deliberately adopted and registered family names that are funny, ridiculous, confusing, and sometimes even lewd and offensive-sounding—many of the latter supposedly at the expense of Napoleon and the French occupiers.
Some examples are:
• Suikerbuik (Sugar belly)
• Spring in ‘t Veld (Jump in the Field)
• Uiekruier (Onion-crier)
• Naaktgeboren (Born naked)
• Poepjes (Little sh*t)
• Schooier (Beggar, bum, tramp)
• Scheefnek (Crooked-neck)
• Piest ([he] urinates)
• Zeldenthuis (Hardly ever at home)
• Rotmensen (Rotten people)
Also, De Keizer (The Emperor) —ostensibly to mock Napoleon himself. And my own family name, de Wind (the wind). The selection of weird and funny names may have been a joke that backfired. The civil registration system introduced by Napoleon has “stuck” to this day—and so have most of those silly, funny, strange Dutch family names.As a side note: My stepfather (a Dutchman) also has an interesting family name: Kortekaas, which means “short cheese.” '

THE STRAIGHT DOPE
"Is "squaw" an obscene insult?"
My squaw never thought so. Till the day she tomahawked me.

' Q: Here in Maine, the state legislature is taking up a bill to ban the use of the word squaw in place names. Native Americans contend that it is a vulgarity, meaning prostitute or c*** rather than woman. Was this a general word that was used in many languages, or was it specific to one or two? Are there any old Native American songs or poems that might use this word in a more ordinary sense, revealing that it is not as degrading as they might contend, or is it absent from N.A. literature, indicating that it is indeed vulgar? If it is found in the literature, are other "vulgar" words used as well?
A: One doesn't want to get overly PC about it, but the protesters have a point when they say special terms for minority women are inherently demeaning. Think about it. Negress. Jewess. Sixty years ago these terms were in common use. Now they make your flesh creep. Next picture some pot-bellied slob in a cowboy hat: "Why, if it ain't a injun and his squaw." In 1967, 143 place names containing the word nigger were changed to Negro by order of the U.S. Board on Geographic Names. Squaw Valley may not be in the same league as N*gger Lake on the offensiveness scale. But it's up there with Pickaninny Creek. '

WTOP NEWS, WASHINGTON DC
"Place names that make you snicker"
And then there's that tacky new development, Auschwitz Meadows.

' "No, seriously. Where do you live?" Imagine the hassle of living in a town or on a street with a name, such as Intercourse (Pennsylvania) or Beaver Lick (Kentucky). Well, many people in the area have probably endured a snicker or two or gotten tired of spelling the name over the phone. In Maryland, there are areas with names that include Scaggsville, Crapo and Boring. Virginia has Bumpass, Fourway, and Nuttsville. '

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