By any other name...
(Note* I'm updating this after a long time after someone who shall remain nameless has been gawking over my shoulder.)
I remember having to read Romeo and Julliet back in highschool. One of the famous lines is "A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet." It's from the part where Julliet of the house of Capulet is on her balcony complaining how the guy she loves is forbidden to her because of his family's name, the Montagues.
That's a powerful assertion, that there is effectively nothing in a name. In reality, there's a lot in the name of a particular person or being. That's why almost all big name actors in Hollywood have changed their names to sound more catchy and 'vanilla' American. For example, Sir Ben Kingsley, was born Krishna Bhanji. Ralph Lauren is actually Ralph Lipschitz. Can you imagine seeing fragrances, "Polo, by Ralph Lipschitz." That just sounds cheap and tacky.
Similarly, names alone sell countless products regardless of how crappy they really are. I remember, when I was working for a short stint in the catering business, I was reading through this culinary guide that had some history of all sorts of foods. It turns out that just a few short years ago, Portobello mushrooms, before adopting the name, were some of the worst sellers and were being dumped on the side of the road by farmers who couldn't sell them. Then one farmer had the brilliant idea of renaming them something exotic, chose Portobello, and they started flying off the shelves. Same stuff, different name, different profit margin.
Same thing in politics. Innocent civilians killed are 'collateral damage.' Invasion and occupation is 'liberation.' Terrorists are freedom fighters depending on who's asking.
When growing up, I used to hate my name. Of course my parents had to give my sister, Sophia, the normal name, and I had to suffer with the one that's difficult to pronounce. So I grew up having a million nicknames, Zize, Zas, Zed-man, Z-dawg, Bob (long story), Dick (more for personality than not knowing my real name), etc. More so than nicknames, I had mis-pronounciations, most often Zahaar, and variations on that one. It wasn't until much later I got comfortable with it, and realized that it was somewhat unique (at least here in the western world). So now, no problems with my name.
Which brings me to an article I read earlier today about Nicholas Cage. Now I'm all for meaningful but exotic names. But Hollywood celebrities, most of whom do not even have a highschool education, name their children something entirely stupid and meaningless. Most notable is Gweneth Paltrow naming her kid Apple, and some other idiot naming his kid Pilot Inspektor. Either it's an elaborate joke where these dumb names are just decoys, or these celebrities are really dumb.
Nicholas Cage named his kid Kal-el, which was Superman's original name on his home planet. If Cage was Israeli or something, maybe he'd get away with naming the kid that on the excuse that it sounds kind of Jewish. But no, Cage was born Nicholas Coppola, of pure Italian descent. He named his kid after a comic book hero. This kid is going to grow up and do a lot of drugs wishing his parents were normal. All these kids with horrible names will never grow up to like their names or find the hidden meanings or any poetic reason behind them. They have dumb names that were given to them for dumb reasons.
Crap by any other name would smell just as foul...
I remember having to read Romeo and Julliet back in highschool. One of the famous lines is "A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet." It's from the part where Julliet of the house of Capulet is on her balcony complaining how the guy she loves is forbidden to her because of his family's name, the Montagues.
That's a powerful assertion, that there is effectively nothing in a name. In reality, there's a lot in the name of a particular person or being. That's why almost all big name actors in Hollywood have changed their names to sound more catchy and 'vanilla' American. For example, Sir Ben Kingsley, was born Krishna Bhanji. Ralph Lauren is actually Ralph Lipschitz. Can you imagine seeing fragrances, "Polo, by Ralph Lipschitz." That just sounds cheap and tacky.
Similarly, names alone sell countless products regardless of how crappy they really are. I remember, when I was working for a short stint in the catering business, I was reading through this culinary guide that had some history of all sorts of foods. It turns out that just a few short years ago, Portobello mushrooms, before adopting the name, were some of the worst sellers and were being dumped on the side of the road by farmers who couldn't sell them. Then one farmer had the brilliant idea of renaming them something exotic, chose Portobello, and they started flying off the shelves. Same stuff, different name, different profit margin.
Same thing in politics. Innocent civilians killed are 'collateral damage.' Invasion and occupation is 'liberation.' Terrorists are freedom fighters depending on who's asking.
When growing up, I used to hate my name. Of course my parents had to give my sister, Sophia, the normal name, and I had to suffer with the one that's difficult to pronounce. So I grew up having a million nicknames, Zize, Zas, Zed-man, Z-dawg, Bob (long story), Dick (more for personality than not knowing my real name), etc. More so than nicknames, I had mis-pronounciations, most often Zahaar, and variations on that one. It wasn't until much later I got comfortable with it, and realized that it was somewhat unique (at least here in the western world). So now, no problems with my name.
Which brings me to an article I read earlier today about Nicholas Cage. Now I'm all for meaningful but exotic names. But Hollywood celebrities, most of whom do not even have a highschool education, name their children something entirely stupid and meaningless. Most notable is Gweneth Paltrow naming her kid Apple, and some other idiot naming his kid Pilot Inspektor. Either it's an elaborate joke where these dumb names are just decoys, or these celebrities are really dumb.
Nicholas Cage named his kid Kal-el, which was Superman's original name on his home planet. If Cage was Israeli or something, maybe he'd get away with naming the kid that on the excuse that it sounds kind of Jewish. But no, Cage was born Nicholas Coppola, of pure Italian descent. He named his kid after a comic book hero. This kid is going to grow up and do a lot of drugs wishing his parents were normal. All these kids with horrible names will never grow up to like their names or find the hidden meanings or any poetic reason behind them. They have dumb names that were given to them for dumb reasons.
Crap by any other name would smell just as foul...
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