Oneida

In my junior year of high school, we learned about the infamous ONEIDA COLONY in U.S. history. (I'm surprised no one has mentioned it yet!) It was founded in 1848 in Oneida, New York, and eventually dissolved in 1881. Basically, everybody had sex with everybody else -- they were not allowed to have exclusive sexual relationships, and were theoretically married to every community member of the opposite sex. (Research this for yourself, I'm not making it up!) Furthermore, the post-menopausal women were expected to introduce the teenage boys to sex, and likewise the older men introduced the young girls to sex. Weirder still, the men were supposed to avoid ejaculation during sex because it showed their degree of self-control and "spiritual maturity". So, that's partly why the Oneida Colony died out, because no babies were born due to this form of birth control!

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I remember my teacher being too embarrassed to tell our class about this chapter of U.S. history, and saying, "I'm going to stand out in the hallway and one of you can get up in front of the class and read this paragraph out loud to everybody. I'll come back in when you're done."

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So, that's why I will NEVER name my daughter, or pet, or plant, or anything, Oneida.

This sounds like the Norwegian words for "no, absolutely not!" (o nej da!) as in "I hope I don't bother you?" "No, absolutely not!" (I might have spelled it wrong since my mother tongue isn't Norwegian but Swedish)