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Helpdid you ever read "Compromising Positions?"
in reply to a message by queenv
By Susan Isaacs? It's a very funny mystery making fun of rich people on Long Island. The main character is Judith Singer and she appears in another mystery written and set twenty years later. Anyway, one of her group of friends, a friend she and the other women don't actually like all that much, is Mary Alice, who they call Malice.
It's mentioned more than once that Malice is one of four sisters, all of them named Mary. Near as I can remember it's Mary Alice, Mary Jean, Mary Ellen and I think Mary Kate or Mary Catherine. Malice is the only one we actually see in the book, and she is flaky and dim and hyper-Catholic, which I suppose is why there's four Marys in her family.
I know a Filipino family with four daughters, all of them named Maria, but they all go by their middle names and somehow it seems much less silly that way. Ramona, Teresa, Andrea and I think the other one is Carmen or Carmela.
I think, therefore I judge.
It's mentioned more than once that Malice is one of four sisters, all of them named Mary. Near as I can remember it's Mary Alice, Mary Jean, Mary Ellen and I think Mary Kate or Mary Catherine. Malice is the only one we actually see in the book, and she is flaky and dim and hyper-Catholic, which I suppose is why there's four Marys in her family.
I know a Filipino family with four daughters, all of them named Maria, but they all go by their middle names and somehow it seems much less silly that way. Ramona, Teresa, Andrea and I think the other one is Carmen or Carmela.
I think, therefore I judge.
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(I've written about this before)-until about a generation ago, it was usual, in my area, for all girls to have the name Marie as a first name, and the boys, Joseph.
They weren't, usually,called by these names;Marie Constance would be just called Constance.
Although sometimes it was hyphenated, as, Marie-Mai, or Marie-Blanche, and they'd then be called the whole name.
At one time, any French-speaking men in the Canadian military would be referred to as "Joe LeBlanc", because of all the Josephs, and Le Blanc being a common last name.
I don't know how the soldiers themselves felt about this, but it's pretty mild, so I rather expect they bore it patiently.
They weren't, usually,called by these names;Marie Constance would be just called Constance.
Although sometimes it was hyphenated, as, Marie-Mai, or Marie-Blanche, and they'd then be called the whole name.
At one time, any French-speaking men in the Canadian military would be referred to as "Joe LeBlanc", because of all the Josephs, and Le Blanc being a common last name.
I don't know how the soldiers themselves felt about this, but it's pretty mild, so I rather expect they bore it patiently.
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My sister's husband is French-Canadian (well, his parents were but they moved to the US before he was born so he's an American citizen) and she told me it was their tradition to give every boy the middle name Joseph and every girl the middle name Marie. Not the first name. Is this not correct?
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Probably.
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