tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599161450506060548.post5283157471203531073..comments2024-01-24T18:33:04.790-08:00Comments on Smythologies: NamesKarin Spirnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02431240000259421369noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599161450506060548.post-29633844909279329622011-07-26T12:14:35.720-07:002011-07-26T12:14:35.720-07:00Oh wait, what I really want to know is the childho...Oh wait, what I really want to know is the childhood nickname. Out with it, Melinda!Karin Spirnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02431240000259421369noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599161450506060548.post-21402714381419550442011-07-26T12:12:31.225-07:002011-07-26T12:12:31.225-07:00You know, my family is Jewish (in fact, my mysteri...You know, my family is Jewish (in fact, my mysterious South American relatives were escaping the war criminals you were worried about being related to!), and my parents used to have this anti-German bias that they have since gotten over (thankfully). But when I was in high school, I wanted to study German and they wouldn't let me. <br /><br />So I thought it was kind of funny when I found out from my wonderful German graduate student instructor that my name, Karin Susanne Spirn, is so typically German that she had assumed I was German when she saw my name on the roster. <br /><br />And yes, I want to know Melinda's middle name, too!!! But it is of no use. That woman can keep a secret better than anyone I know. She's uncrackable.Karin Spirnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02431240000259421369noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599161450506060548.post-35622188482447692552011-07-22T02:27:50.115-07:002011-07-22T02:27:50.115-07:00I love the scene with the book of names!
I can co...I love the scene with the book of names! <br />I can completely relate - I always thought there were eight Hardachs in the world and I knew them all. Then the Internet happened and half a dozen Hardachs contacted me from Argentina. I was thrilled (family in Argentina! Holidays on a ranch!) and a bit worried (Germans in Argentina...hope our shared ancestors weren't war criminals). <br /><br />Anyway, as it turned out they were all of Syrian descent and just happened to spell their name the same way. So what do you say, does that still count as having the same surname?<br /><br />Melinda, what's your middle name??Sophie Hardachhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14430226323998964779noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599161450506060548.post-74076091371911142812009-08-07T18:06:32.889-07:002009-08-07T18:06:32.889-07:00I'm so sorry that your comment got deleted! T...I'm so sorry that your comment got deleted! This blog has been plagued by bugginess--I can't quite figure out why.<br /><br />I'm really curious what your childhood nickname is--I will have to fly to Japan and get you drunk, except by the time you're drunk I'll be stone cold unconscious. <br /><br />I have had power struggles with my family about my name; my mom once got mad at me for spelling it with an E when I was little. Do you remember that time Anna's mom went to a psychic who told her to change Anna's Chinese name--and so she kept calling her 20 year old daughter by a new name? Crazy.Karin Spirnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02431240000259421369noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599161450506060548.post-17055682380098060192009-08-05T17:36:50.885-07:002009-08-05T17:36:50.885-07:00Karin, I'm so sad. i just spent like 10 minute...Karin, I'm so sad. i just spent like 10 minutes writing a reply that got erased. I'll try for a truncated version here.<br /><br />Although my name sounds completely ordinary, I'm always surprised at how unusual it actually is. Just finding another Melinda is odd, but I think I'm the only Melinda Joe out there. Ironically, I hated my name when I was a kid b/c of how ordinary it sounded, but I hated my middle name for the opposite reason. And when I think about it, neither of my names really suit me. My first name sounds like an old lady and my middle name sounds like a large black woman.<br /><br />I've gotten over it but what continues to kill me is that my family still calls me by my childhood nickname, which I despise. I'd thought that I'd disposed of it in the 6th grade but every time I visit S'port, I cringe when people who know my parents refer to me this way. Despite my efforts to come to a compromise on the issue, my family remains firm. They insist that it's their right. I think it's kind of a power struggle, really. Like they're holding on to their right to know me as they remember, as a child rather than an adult.<br /><br />Last point, about your name not changing when you go abroad. It actually can, in a way. Here, if you're Chinese or Korean, they'll keep your Chinese characters but the pronunciation of your name will be Japanese, so if you're named Joe like me, they'd call you "Shuu." You just learn to respond to it, to this name that's yours but isn't.Melindahttp://tokyodrinkingglass.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599161450506060548.post-91568689517360991612009-08-03T16:06:03.985-07:002009-08-03T16:06:03.985-07:00Talk about prescience: yesterday for the first tim...Talk about prescience: yesterday for the first time I did a Yahoo People Search for my first and last name and got four hits--two of them me, and two of them people with my name in Indiana and Georgia. And, yeah, I was a bit miffed that those other people were using my name, what with the unusual spelling of my first name and all.<br /> <br />And then today I read your blog entry about exactly that topic.<br /> <br />I don't think we need to wait for new mind-reading software, I think we just need to figure out how to use the stuff pre-installed in our heads!<br /><br />--SondraAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599161450506060548.post-84400397291113649322009-08-03T09:17:52.118-07:002009-08-03T09:17:52.118-07:00Dweezil is totally my favorite.Dweezil is totally my favorite.Jessicanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599161450506060548.post-14445952299907644612009-08-01T13:55:02.659-07:002009-08-01T13:55:02.659-07:00Hey Francisco, that's funny you remember talki...Hey Francisco, that's funny you remember talking about Frank Zappa's kids--that topic has been on my mind for years. You forgot Dweezil, though.Karin Spirnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02431240000259421369noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599161450506060548.post-23395430265051261812009-08-01T13:53:17.532-07:002009-08-01T13:53:17.532-07:00Jessica--I think all of us writing blogs is a good...Jessica--I think all of us writing blogs is a good interim stopgap until they perfect the software that allows us to access other people's minds. <br /><br />Speaking of blogs, I think you need your own.Karin Spirnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02431240000259421369noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599161450506060548.post-25962772123747983112009-07-31T23:27:07.435-07:002009-07-31T23:27:07.435-07:00I was named "after" my father. francisco...I was named "after" my father. francisco. <br /><br />he claims it was my mom's idea. <br /><br />I also remember having a coversation about Frank Zappa's children with you, looooong ago, when I learned that he "christened" them Moon Unit and Motorhead...if I'm not mistaken. You marveled at this even back then.Francisco Nieto Salazarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10370385110721425439noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599161450506060548.post-74218353351936679692009-07-31T17:57:11.778-07:002009-07-31T17:57:11.778-07:00Oooh! I got name checked! Of course, I want to b...Oooh! I got name checked! Of course, I want to be "Marie," but I'll accept "Tashker," too :-).<br /><br />On another note, although I don't remember learning that my name referred uniquely to me, I had a similarly mind-blowing realization at the age of 8 when I suddenly that my brain was my own, and that people would always be fundamentally separated from other people via their unique and unsharable experiences. It was kind of a lonely moment, actually-- the thought that I (and everybody else) is fundamentally unknowable. <br /><br />So: What would it be like if we didn't identify ourselves to others by our names (meaningless symbols), but by some kind of thought-packet containing all of our experiences, fears, thoughts, and desires? What if we could de-symbolize ourselves to others? And can we get closer to this exalted state by all having blogs?Jessicanoreply@blogger.com