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ArchivesRe: You know? This isn't a bad idea!
in reply to a message by Cheryl
** they can always have it legally changed **
True, Cheryl, but how many 10-year olds do you suppose go to court to change their name? And THAT'S when the damage is done, NOT when hey're old enough to have the savvy and the 500 bucks to make the change.
I'm really torn over this issue cuz I don't relish the notion that the guvmint can dictate what we name our kids, but perhaps someone somehow should be protecting innocent children from total morons who possess the minimal talent to reproduce themselves.
- Da.
True, Cheryl, but how many 10-year olds do you suppose go to court to change their name? And THAT'S when the damage is done, NOT when hey're old enough to have the savvy and the 500 bucks to make the change.
I'm really torn over this issue cuz I don't relish the notion that the guvmint can dictate what we name our kids, but perhaps someone somehow should be protecting innocent children from total morons who possess the minimal talent to reproduce themselves.
- Da.
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Replies
It ain't a good idea...
I'm 100 percent with you, Daividh, about telling guvmint where they can put their dictates. And I wonder whether the issue of what parents choose to name their children may someday come under the same line of fire as the issue of whether or not spanking is to be considered child abuse. (Personally, I am not an advocate of spanking -- unless it's being done between consenting adults.)
I think that any parent in the U.S. and the majority of European countries (I'm ruling out certain cultures here where it's customary to tag an unpleasant name on an infant in order to make the child less attractive to demons) who is seriously contemplating a name like "Shithead" for his/her unborn child is already going to be exhibiting other signs of instability -- signs which shouldn't go too easily unnoticed by the rest of society.
The pregnant woman may be smoking, drinking, or shooting crank. The father-to-be may be abusing the family pet.
My point is this: The abuse -- and potential for abuse -- will have begun long before this child is born and named. Society has to be able to identify toxic parents before they even get to *be* parents.
Never mind expending energy and resources in compiling official lists of "acceptable" and "unacceptable" baby names, or hiring prosaic bureaucrats to determine for the rest of us what's "silly" and what's "stylish". That stuff is nonsense. A child about to be born to parents who are probably already showing their resentment of that unborn child in other ways, is going to need far more substantial protection than a visit from the Name Police.
-- Nanaea
P.S. Andrea? "Zero" ain't such a bad name for a kid if one is fondly remembering Samuel Joel "Zero" Mostel. :)
I'm 100 percent with you, Daividh, about telling guvmint where they can put their dictates. And I wonder whether the issue of what parents choose to name their children may someday come under the same line of fire as the issue of whether or not spanking is to be considered child abuse. (Personally, I am not an advocate of spanking -- unless it's being done between consenting adults.)
I think that any parent in the U.S. and the majority of European countries (I'm ruling out certain cultures here where it's customary to tag an unpleasant name on an infant in order to make the child less attractive to demons) who is seriously contemplating a name like "Shithead" for his/her unborn child is already going to be exhibiting other signs of instability -- signs which shouldn't go too easily unnoticed by the rest of society.
The pregnant woman may be smoking, drinking, or shooting crank. The father-to-be may be abusing the family pet.
My point is this: The abuse -- and potential for abuse -- will have begun long before this child is born and named. Society has to be able to identify toxic parents before they even get to *be* parents.
Never mind expending energy and resources in compiling official lists of "acceptable" and "unacceptable" baby names, or hiring prosaic bureaucrats to determine for the rest of us what's "silly" and what's "stylish". That stuff is nonsense. A child about to be born to parents who are probably already showing their resentment of that unborn child in other ways, is going to need far more substantial protection than a visit from the Name Police.
-- Nanaea
P.S. Andrea? "Zero" ain't such a bad name for a kid if one is fondly remembering Samuel Joel "Zero" Mostel. :)
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I agree with you Davidh and Nan, and...
I don't know of Zero Mostel, although the name sounds familiar.
Well, this is a heavy topic, and it's very enjoyable to discuss it with intelligent people. (That means everyone who's contributed to this date) :)
Andrea
I don't know of Zero Mostel, although the name sounds familiar.
Well, this is a heavy topic, and it's very enjoyable to discuss it with intelligent people. (That means everyone who's contributed to this date) :)
Andrea
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You're a schmartie, yourself, Andrea -- but c'mon. A Broadway babe like you has *got* to know who Zero Mostel was. Does *The Producers* ring a bell? :)
-- Nanaea
-- Nanaea
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"I vas born in Dusseldorf und zat is vy zey call me Rolf!"
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Is this an impression of Zero Mostel? OK, I'm getting a clue...
LOL!
LOL!
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Not even close, Andrea. Go rent the danged movie and check him out yourself. The man defies description!ession of Zero Mostel? OK, I'm getting a clue...
rst
rst
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OK.
!
!
1
Also rent "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" while you're at it. Oh yeah, and...
Zero was also the original Tevye in the Broadway production of *Fiddler on the Roof* (long before the movie version came out). He also appears in Woody Allen's *The Front*, as Zero had actually been one of those actors (as portrayed in the movie) blacklisted during the McCarthy Era.
-- Nanaea
Zero was also the original Tevye in the Broadway production of *Fiddler on the Roof* (long before the movie version came out). He also appears in Woody Allen's *The Front*, as Zero had actually been one of those actors (as portrayed in the movie) blacklisted during the McCarthy Era.
-- Nanaea
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Sounds like I'll recognized him when I see him.
:)
:)
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