Thursday, July 31, 2008

Poor Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii

The DuChaussee clan grows and grows everyday. Sometimes we may all wonder, how did that baby get that name? Why is Chris Chris and not, um.......Dequante? (Pronounced: Steve) So, looking on Yahoo this morning, I spoted an article about why some people are named the way they are, or, more importantly, why people try to change their names to other things, legally. In one case, a man tried to change his name to something a bit more colorful but the CA Court of Appeals said: "Ah hells nah!

Just an excerpt:
Name: Misteri Nigger, second "i" silent. No, said the California Court of Appeal in 1992, because it constitutes "fighting words": "[I]f a man asks appellant his name and he answers 'Mister Nigger,' the man might think appellant was calling him 'Mister Nigger.' Moreover, third persons, including children hearing the epithet, may be embarrassed, shocked or offended by simply hearing the word. This example illustrates how use of the name may be 'confusing' with the potential for violence." Definitely does sound like asking for trouble; "Russell Lawrence Lee" is much safer. [Lee v. Superior Court, 9 Cal. App. 4th 510
(1992).]


I love that "fighting words" line.

You can find more incredible(ulous) stories of names at this link: http://www.slate.com/id/2196204/pagenum/all/#page_start

Now, what would YOU change your name to if you truly hated your given one?

3 comments:

JayJay said...

Nice article!! I think they made a mistake however. There is no second 'g' in the term "fightin' words". The term is uaually preceeded by the words "Thems is".

I would like to be named '&'- pronounced: Ampersand. What do you think?

Trininuyawka said...

LOL!

Actually I think I would change my name to:

First name: Da
Last name: Bizomb

That way my voicemail would say something to the effect of, "Hello. Yes, you have reached Da Bizomb. Unfortunately I am a bit busy right now to take your call because I am Da Bizomb. But your call is very important to me so please leave a message and I will return your call as soon as other people leave Da Bizomb alone."

Anonymous said...

Way back when I used to work in branch banking there was a child whose name was Patti Cake. I can't imagine what happened to her. The parents must have had a weird sense of humor.

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