Hooray, titties competent kids and vacation!
I'm at home with the kids today because it's a teacher workday, after having them solo from dinnertime Thursday through to 8:00 last night while Roberta was out of town. I'm... ready to go back to work now.
That's very sweet of them, and you should probably buy each of them a new iPod or something.
Homemade cocktail sauce is one of those jarred things I wouldn't have thought to make fresh. Clicking through a few recipes suggests something like ketchup (or tomato paste) +horseradish + hot sauce is the general idea. Speaking of which, I was shocked to learn that some horseradish sauce is basically horseradish + mayo.
I'm reading comment 2 in a tiny voice that also says "help meeeee"
Grandma called and gave Jammies and me a big lecture last night about parking our kids in daycare. In her defense, she is very egalitarian about her solution, that both of us work halftime.
But she wanted to be on speaker phone, and she didn't want to be interrupted, and Hawaiian Punch was going fucking nuts with the cell phone being held out right in front of her but she wasn't allowed to touch it.
Wheeee. I think we'll both continue working fulltime.
Zounds! Sally went to the Renaissance Faire? Did she eat a turkey leg on a stick, forsooth?
Awwwww... how sweet! I look forward to the time our kids can do this (and the housework). By the way, if any has suggestions for a boy's name, let 'em rip. We can't think of one we like.
7 -- my kid's preschool has a "Balthazar" and a "Guilhelm.". People are reaching beyond the old fashioned name trend and going straight up medieval.
Also, there are two other kids with her (so I thought) not super ordinary first name.
I hear "Matt Weiner" is available.
9: In the past couple of years, the two boys' names that were each given to at least two babies of my acquaintance are "Kai" and "Dashiell."
11 -- those are the most common boy names at the preschool.
We're going with Miles. I can't shake the feeling that we're completely mid-fad on this one.
Name Voyager confirms we're being somewhat faddish. I still have a sinking feeling.
Rank in 2009: 162. I can't tell how pervasive the 162nd most popular name would feel.
13: Strike a note for the metric system, and go with Kilometers instead.
7: I've always rather liked "Victor" and I don't think it's trendy right now.
Even better, go old school Maya and name him "18 Rabbit." Betcha nobody else is naming their kid that.
I learned this weekend that a couple I know who have a son named "Luke" has named their infant son "Bo". I feel this is not OK.
What I find weirdest about the preschool isn't just the presence of weird names, but the near total absence of what I think of as "normal" names. It's about 5/50 who have names that wouldn't have seemed highly unusual in the 1970s/80s.
20: This is why the Snark-kit is ahead of the curve.
All of the boys in my son's class have what I would call normal names. By that, I mean names that are shared by people I knew when I was little.
It's totally true there are no Toms, Dicks, or Harrys any more. But naming is a minefield -- there is so much signalling involved! Don't want to be too common, but not pretentious either. Don't want it to sound made up or people will think you're from the lower classes (the horror!!!)
That's pretty impressive. Aren't they elementary school age?
but the near total absence of what I think of as "normal" names.
Earlier this year I realized that the name "Jennifer" has disappeared. When I was a kid there was a Jennifer in every class, sometimes two. Now I can't recall the last time I encountered a woman younger than, say, thirty-ish, named Jennifer.
I know of two "Miles" under 5. It's a great name, though I could never use it b/c it reminds me of my days of heavy air travel.
25: You listen to jazz when you fly also?
there is so much signalling involved!
Fuck it. Don't overthink it. Jammies and I both have bizarrely mis-signalling names and you turn out just fine.
Actually the other boy name that I like is "Van", so maybe I've got travelling on the brain.
The only friends I know who've had babies recently have gone with very Irish names, but then they are Irish.* Although the Irishness** of the names was a bit of a surprise since neither of them are particularly into the sorts of things I'd associate with that.
* as in born and brought up in Ireland, not as in 'have ancestors who left there 150 years ago' ...
** not quite Fionn mac Cumhaill Brian Boru Smith, but pretty Irish all the same.
I think the theory is that even a common name doesn't feel common anymore the way Jennifer did. It's partly going to be a question of how things shake out in your particular locale (like how I went to grade school with Lori Ka. and Lori Ke. in my class but there were no other Loris within three grades in either direction) but I don't think Miles seems overly hipsterish and fits with his sister (though maybe gives you an obligation to stick with alphabetical order?) well.
The next frontier is name portmanteaus: Dylandy, Jennifenna, Lukarl, Henriettaturkmenbasiobhan. That kind of thing.
27: My name signals very accurately.
Now I can't recall the last time I encountered a woman younger than, say, thirty-ish, named Jennifer.
If this is accurate I must have been right in the last gasp of this trend. I attended a high school brimming with Jennifers. (See also: girls named Lauren.)
In real life, Moby is named Shiva. Mods pls delete.
29: Boru/Boroimhe is already chosen to be our next dog's name.
Americans went gaga for Celtic (mostly Irish) names starting about 15 or 20 years back. I know a baby Euan now, so I'm just waiting for the ensuing crop of Alasdairs and Mungos.
34: A friend (of WASPy extraction) was named Kali by his parents, but this made his grandmother cry, so they changed it to Kylie.
Indian friends of mine named their kid Aryan. We tactfully waited until our eyes stopped bulging before hemming and hawing about loaded words. They cheerfully said that they'd just call him Ryan for short. Now when I meet anyone named Ryan I like to ask them if it's short for Aryan.
37: And now grandma is angry past tears?
re: 35
Obviously the Celtic thing codes a bit differently for me, as I always had friends growing up with names like Mhairi, Angus, Alasdair, and so on. However, the more ostentatiously Celtic names, with the full orthographic monty, became more common a while back, yeah.
but I don't think Miles seems overly hipsterish and fits with his sister
Thanks! Good. I think it fits nicely too.
Mungo is only pawn in game of life.
You'd think Rickastley would be climbing the charts as a first name, but I haven't heard much about it.
I met a baby named Miles just yesterday!
Now when I meet anyone named Ryan I like to ask them if it's short for Aryan.
I've done this with people named Tim, ever since getting on familiar terms with Optimus Prime.
40: Oh sure. Yeah, the names I am talking about are bog (ha!) standard over there. Even CA (Colin) was the only so-named kid in his middle school -- now you can't throw at rock into an American playground without hitting a Colin or two.
24 -- It was the most popular name when we picked it in 1986.
7 -- Hussein. What?
If you named him "Mungo" you could say "Park Mungo on the sofa over there."
I know small kids named Copper (short for Co/pern/icus) and Sid (short for Sid/dha/rtha). They're also friends with a Kepler.
48: Even if you don't hit a single Colin, the teacher will still call the cops.
re: 48
Yeah, although most of my school friends probably had fairly normal British names, rather than anything particularly Scottish. But there was always a smattering of Callums, and Anguses and the like.
There's another astronomically themed kid name in their cohort, but damned if I can remember what it is. (Not Galileo in any event.)
I always like the name Hamish, but we aren't Scottish so I didn't feel like we could use it.
W. Breeze, you should start a new trend in the U.S. with Angus.
56: Ha ha. So funny I forgot to laugh.
31: I once suggested Turkmebashi when a friend was looking for baby names! The kid's mom was a Turkmenne and found this non-hilarious.
35: If I get another cat (supposing mine doesn't live forever, which I'm counting on) I think I'm naming it Meeskeit.
I've always thought that going for musicality, which is to say, aesthetic pleasingness, in the combination of first name and surname made the most sense. That doesn't provide an easy answer, but it does rule out quite a bit.
I tend not to be fan, for example, of assonance or alliteration. So a Dashiell Hampton, say, would lose points, as would a Kai Kramer.* Also, I'd mix up the number of syllables in first name + last name: one syllable + one syllable, less favored.
I'm sure people think of these things, but I feel as though I hear discussions of name-choosing conducted on the basis of the first name to be chosen alone; not as often in consideration of the surname to which said name will be attached.
* I say this as a bearer of a name with notable assonance, and it's always bugged me, just a tad, mind, not horribly.
re: 55
I went to school with a Hamish, but everyone called him Hammy.
I know small kids named Copper (short for Co/pern/icus) and Sid (short for Sid/dha/rtha). They're also friends with a Kepler.
They need to recruit someone to name their kid Brahe. Collect the set!
I know two Kais and a Dashiell (all seven or under). I don't think any of the parents knew they were participating in a fad. "Dash" is a pretty cool nickname.
61: Convergence! And how could I forget! Kali/Kylie named his new son Hamish.
W. Breeze, you should start a new trend in the U.S. with Angus.
Then teach the kid to play basketball. Later in life, he'll have beef with Kobe.
Also if you want to raise a little gay, you can choose an ordinary name and spell it wrong by one letter. Ryun. Kiel. Khris. &c. (I started to say "has anyone noticed this?" but that usually leads to "RTFA!")
We had about seventy Jennifers at my HS.
58: Low hanging fruit. What did you expect?
We had a lot of Jennifers. They were all Asian.
one syllable + one syllable, less favored
I don't know, "Rip Torn" is an awesome name.
There's really nothing as good as watching your kids be competent.
It has been a long wait for Ma and Pa Smearcase but I'm sure it will be so much the sweeter it when it happens.
According to the SSA, Jennifer was the #1 name from 1971 to 1984, and is currently #109.
My son's kindergarten has four Ryans, none of whom are Irish.
It's too late for heebie to take advantage of this, but one thing I've seen a lot in foster-adoption files is boys named for someone who turned out not to be the biological father, which I've seen far more often than namesake boys who are named for their actual dads. (And I hope that doesn't sound classist; I'd be utterly shocked if it's unique to the people who end up not able to parent their children but they are the ones whose files I get to read. It's actually probably not a bad strategy to encourage the name inspiration to stay/become involved in a relationship with mother and child.)
Colton's real name is basically the equivalent to heebie choosing Jammbie for her kid, smushing together parts of both parents' names. It certainly can lead to unique outcomes, which I suppose is part of the point.
To parsimon's point on assonance, having the same letter used in distinctly different ways seems weird to me. Some football game this weekend featured Julio Jones and that struck me every time I heard it. Presumably that's because I'm weird, though, so it's not necessarily a universal.
My son's kindergarten has four Ryans, none of whom are Irish.
Sez you.
67: I expected you to reach for the very highest branches, Moby.
If I ever had a kid, god forbid, I would totally name it Pain after reading about it in another thread. Bonus it works for either boy or girl and if they had my last name would be one syllable + one syllable.
Meg Whitman's husband and son are both named "Griff Harsh."
Dude.
69: Yeah, I know, and there are a lot of other examples -- it's just a personal preference on my part, I think. I've always liked the name Naomi, for example: but "Naomi Cannelli" doesn't work, while, oh, "Naomi Klein" does. I think that's because of the contrast in number of syllables, plus the avoidance of rhyme. Kind of speculating here.
And I shouldn't say it "doesn't work" so much as that it's less pleasing. To me, obviously -- perhaps not for everyone else.
Worst girl name that I have encountered in real life:
"Reagan Lee"
Worst (or weirdest) boy name:
"Yo" (the parents actually recounted this, and after formally naming him "Yo" now call him "Joe").
Last year, I had a student named General Lee! He was pretty awesome, too.
I keep suggesting "Beppo" to people considering baby names, to no avail.
Just what was so awesome about that specific Lee?
I'd also seriously consider the number of ways a name can be shortened to a nickname. I grimaced for too long over the fact that my name basically doesn't admit of nicknames, shortened forms. Names like Elizabeth have a serious advantage here: suppose you grow up not to be a "Beth" so much as an "Eliza"! Or maybe you'd rather be a "Betty."
I mean, now that I'm a grown-up, I don't really care, but during the finding-your-identity period, this was consternating.
I attended a high school brimming with Jennifers.
Aaaannd ... since the thoughts I'm having on these matters can be somewhat contradictory ("Naomi" doesn't admit of many nicknames), I think that providing two middle names might be a good idea. The kid can then choose as s/he grows up.
"Naomi" doesn't admit of many nicknames
Mimi.
He was a good student and carried off his crazy name with aplomb. I don't know whether it was a Chinese or a Korean "Lee," but he was a native American-English speaker of Asian descent.
My parents supposedly chose my name specifically because they figured it couldn't be shortened or made into a nickname, and this has taught me that people can abbreviate any name if they have a mind to. Naomi could be not only Mimi but Nome, Nay-Oh, or any other number of horrors.
Don't worry about nicknames. The playground sorts itself. Anyone without an easily identifiable nickname will be called "stinky" or "curly" or "big red" or some other easily recognizable physical attribute.
Nay-oh. Me say Naaay-oh.
Nay might come, man,
Don't call her Nome.
To W. Breeze's request, allow me to be the first to suggest "Sue".
I still haven't quite gotten over laughing inwardly at the name of my daughters' classmate Meh. (Turns out it's an endearment, and her real Shoshone name is lovely but long and hard to remember.)
Indian friends of mine named their kid Aryan.
Some people I went to high school with named their first kid Arien, pronounced like aryan. Out of ignorance, rather than any white supremicist leanings. I'm told they've gotten hip to how it sounds, and now call her Ari, pronounced like Airy. Really, they've just dug themselves a hole with that name.
I wonder if you can protection your child from prison by calling him "Dismissed With Prejudice"?
93: That's only going to be the case when the child is growing up in a relatively non-transient environment. If you move around a lot, that kind of thing doesn't take hold.
91: this has taught me that people can abbreviate any name if they have a mind to. Naomi could be not only Mimi but Nome, Nay-Oh, or any other number of horrors.
Horrors is right. People tried -- in college -- to abbreviate my name, and after a couple of weeks, I was forced to say, "You know, I appreciate what you're doing, but this isn't working for me. If you want to keep at it, if it's sincere, okay, but um, it stops me short every time. But, uh, okay? 'cuz I love you too."
65: Khris. &c.
Spotted on FB recently: (girl) Kher/ngton Kar/y Common-Scots-lastname-that-begins-with-a-hard-C
Parents must be big "Dynasty" fans, I guess.
In college, people called me "Hammer." It was intended ironically as I was the small, bookish one in my peer group. All my later nicknames have paled in comparison.
"Hammer Dick" is a pretty manly name.
104: Were you a Master of Ceremonies?
"Parsimon" is an anagram? Of course!
This means her last name consists of three consonants (Slavic?), but it all makes sense now.
Growing up, my brothers called me heebie-geebie.
106: Then you got some experience?
107: It started when I was in high school, before MC Hammer.
We'll call him three-fifths.
Middle name "Compromise".
111.2: And then MC Hammer happened, but they kept on calling you that anyway, because they were 2 legit 2 quit?
112: You couldn't even read two comments further?
108: ? I have way too much of a cold to parse that.
If you move around a lot, that kind of thing doesn't take hold.
Indulge me while I relate this anecdote.
While in college, the woman who became my first wife was goofing around with some friends and they decided to roll down a hill like one does when very young. She got only half way down the hill, and that particular bunch started calling her "half way" as a term of endearment. She was not amused.
Flash forward to a year abroad program, with none of the friends who used that nickname attending with her. At the orientation, she introduced herself to the group, using first and last name name. A co-participant from a college on the other side of the country pipes up "Not, 'half way last name'?" Shocked how her fame has spread, she admits that she is in fact, said person. The nickname sticks during her year abroad.
Fortunately for her, upon return to the home campus after the year abroad the nickname has been forgotten by those who remained, and life proceeded happily along.
No five dollars involved, not the equivalent in foreign currency, to the best of my knowledge.
"Parsimon" is an anagram?
No, acronym.
||
In class, we're learning Tedious Integration Techniques. A student excitedly tells me about Cumbersome Mnemonic Device. I say that I'd never heard of it, and explain why it works. It annoys me slightly because it eliminates a step which is easy to understand and replaces it with memory, but whatever. The class all listens intently.
After class, the student and another are all "I can't believe YOU never heard of this! The teacher! You're supposed to be so good at math!"
I didn't explain that this crap is the opposite of being good at math. But they kept up the ribbing a little longer than I had patience for.
|>
116: That's horrible. I suspect that elementary school kids don't spread their recollections quite so widely, though. As it is, I'm consistently amazed by the reaching out that high schoolers do via Facebook. I approach it all with great caution.
115: What ne is suggesting is that your name is Naomi Srp.
Cumbersome Mnemonic Device
the only ones I can ever remember are HOMES and KISS
118: I remember somebody explaining a long, complicated way to list out the multiplication table for 9s. (This was in grade school.) It was much, much harder than memorizing the actual multiplication table and way too complex to be of any use.
That's horrible.
It doesn't seem very horrible to me.
It wasn't really complex. Cumbersome is a better word for it.
For a little while in college I had the nickname CUTI, which stood for Chronic Urinary Tract Infection.
112: You couldn't even read two comments further?
APPARENTLY
No, acronym.
Positronic Artificial Replicant Skilled in Immediate Mathematics and Online Nullification
126: Thanks to HIPAA, nicknames like that should be harder to acquire.
To tie two threads together, Positronic Artificial Replicant Skilled in Immediate Mathematics and Online Nullification's yearly mileage may make baby seals anticipate licentious balderdash.
Artificial Replicant
I prefer my replicants organic.
There's a mnemonic for the first 10 integer multiples of 9 that I've always found quite efficient and helpful. If it's the same one, obviously, Moby is a fool.
131: The one where you write 0 to 9 down the page and then up the page again? That really annoys me.
132: that's not how I think of it, but sure. For each multiple in turn you increment the tens place and decrement the ones place, until you get to twelve and everything, as in life, falls apart.
I neglected to say earlier that Sally and Newt's dinner sounds fantastic! That particular aspect of parenting sounds incredibly rewarding.
127.last: Huh. I don't recognize myself in that, certainly.
I mean, it's useful if you're ten.
For quite some time I thought it would be fun to name a kid Cromwell, but insist on calling him "L.P.", for Lord Protector. Sure, he'd hate you for it early on, but it would make a cute conversation-piece for his college/post-college years. It would kinda rule out spending significant time in Ireland, though.
Like CJB, I now think "Pain" would be great. BTW, any Bostonian folks want to meet up, uhh, today or tomorrow? I'm the master of advance planning.
133: I'm not saying it doesn't work, but if you manage the "8 times" portion without a crutch, maybe you should just go ahead and do the 9s the same way.
139: by using the "eight seven five six... eight times seven equals fifty six!" strategy?
maybe it was "five six seven eight". That would make more sense.
If I get out of this thread having forgotten how to count I'll be pretty sad.
136. Heh. I should have said I only use those two. I remember a bunch, like MOOSEMUSS and the 4 Bs, OODA, etc but they have limited application outside of the military.
"five six seven eight"
Schlemiel! Schlimazel! Hasenpfeffer Incorporated!
Five times six equals seventy-eight.
Useful children are indeed great. Mine may have to get jobs when their Child Benefit gets taken away, so that really will be useful.
Miles is a lovely name.
I remember a math test in second grade, where we were asked to multiply (or add? I guess probably add) two two-digit numbers. I decided that there had to be a simple trick to adding these two numbers that they weren't telling us. Aha! I realized: if you took the upper right number (the two numbers to be added were stacked vertically) and then the lower left number, and arranged them in that order, you would have the answer! I did not do very well on that test.
126: Relevant. Their ads always crack me up because they are totally unabashed about using their acronym.
I love that "experience UTI" is one of the banner menu items.
FUBAR seems the more frequent condition.
FUBAR and SNAFU are certainly useful descriptions, but not exactly helpful for remembering needed information, so Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally.
149: In 3d grade I decided long division was stupid.* So on tests, if, say, the problem was 153 divided by 9, I would make 153 little hashmarks on my test paper and then circle groups of 9. I didn't do very well on that test, either, because I only go to, like, the first two problems.
*First (? surely not?) in a long line of self-destructive decisions on things I decided I didn't need to know in school.
I'm kind of happy to hear stories like 149 and 154 because the kids I'm tutoring almost without exception never memorized multiplication tables or anything like that and one of our goals for the year is to make them do so. The younger ones (second and third grade) and several of the olders (up through high school) do all adding and subtracting either counting on their fingers or using hashmarks. Add in that the third grader I was working with last week has a tendency to assume that "thirty-seven" should start with a seven when she's looking for it on her number grid and I've been a little worried about how to get them to competency.
For a significant portion of my childhood, I directionless, until I learned the important rule: Never Eat Slimy Worms.
Stanley learn grammar from Tonto?
(Or, for the humorless, from the screenwriters' casual racism?)
160: Tragedy me speak ungrammatical, paleface. Comedy you fall in canyon and die.
Now Tonto is opinionated, but back when he was on TV he barely opened his mouth. Stupid poor role model.
There's good and evil in everyone. Bye, y'all.
20: I have a friend named Bo (1/2 Southern U.S.ian 1/2 Nigerian) His real name is Olu/mi/de Ade/bo. When he arrived at the University of Minnesota from Nigeria, the roommates or teammates felt that that was too complicated, so they started calling him Bo and teasing him about being Bo Jangles.
My kids aren't competent at full dinners yet, but Maura (who is more interested in creating recipes than in following them) made some cookies that were edible and reasonably cookie-like. I didn't help much, apart from dissuading her from using a tablespoon of nutmeg.
but if you manage the "8 times" portion without a crutch
The best way to learn the eight times table is from Blossom Dearie.
dissuading her from using a tablespoon of nutmeg.
Yeah, it takes a lot more than that to feel any effects.
I didn't help much, apart from dissuading her from using a tablespoon of nutmeg.
They really should sell that stuff in a much smaller container.
I have to quit goofing off now. I'm able to get away with it for a bit, because I was at a doctor's appointment and have to wait around the hospital for another one.
However, we are doing this stupid time study where we have to keep track of all of our -day in 15 minute increments (we're not paid like lawyers). This can go under personal time.
It sucks so bad. We have to categorize not by client bu by type of work --rehabilitative-direct, indirect rehabilitative (paperwork) and other.
There's really nothing as good as watching your kids be competent.
IMX that pleasure doesn't fade forty-something years later.
It is, and I'm sure that there will be some fudging. My boss, specifically, and the organization generally, does not micromanage in this way.
The problem is that a lot of what we do is paid for my medicaid. (That money doesn't go straight to us but to the state, so the Department of Mental Health is breathing down us to get more billable events.) For every day that we do something rehabilitative, we can put down an R day, but you could spend 5 minutes talking to someone about their diet strategy, take them to an appointment where you talk to the doctor about modifying the glucophage dosing so that the client doesn't have to go back to the group home at 4 and can go to social events. And then talk about their feelings about the illness. If you don't talk about the diet but do everything else, you can't call it an R day, but if you only spend 5 minutes on the R piece, you can claim the whole day--though you can't get one R for me and one R for House staff.
The people I work with don't goof off, but it could easily happen, so they want to crack down to make sure that they're squeezing as much rehabilitation out of us. Of course, that piece doesn't really work until you've built a relationship and the person trusts you.
And in the context of a community-based system where you might go out with someone, stop by the store and then have a conversation about healthy eating, it's hard to tease apart.
Colton's real name is basically the equivalent to heebie choosing Jammbie for her kid, smushing together parts of both parents' names. It certainly can lead to unique outcomes, which I suppose is part of the point.
I once met a C/lini/que, so named for her parents, Clinton and Monique. I don't think they knew of the cosmetics company when they made the decision.
and teasing him about being Bo Jangles
Um, wow. That's disgusting. (No offense to Mr. Robinson.)
I once met a C/lini/que, so named for her parents, Clinton and Monique
Works even less well if your parents are called Arnold and Soledad.
174: I think it was also that they found his name too long to pronounce. Anyway, he still goes by "Bo."
In my experience parents who name multiple kids variations on the parents' names are megalomaniacs. By which I mean millionaires and/or local politicians.
177: or they might be Johann Sebastian Bach.
If you were lead singer for "Skid Row," you might get a big ego. Don't judge.