There’s a bit of a hoo ha going on today after an interview on ITV’s ‘This Morning’ with Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield who were interviewing this posh woman Katie Hopkins who said she wouldn’t let her kids mix with children with names which signified their working class background – such as Kyle, Kylie, Tyler etc.
Although I also agree with the fact that it’s all in a name this woman with her superior snotty attitude needs taking down a peg or two and she was by Holly Willoughby – so well done Holly. In view of the outrage this has caused I thought I would recycle one of my old blogs on that very subject.
January 15, 2008 Filed under Adrienne’s HIV blogs
It’s all in a name, or so they say, therefore you should be very careful when choosing names for your children, because people tend to live up to them. Take me for instance, I am a prime example. My mother called me Adrienne, because she hated nicknames and wrongly believed that my name could not be shortened – and look what happened. I used to make a joke about it and say, I don’t care what you call me as long as you don’t call me AIDS – and now I still make a joke of it and say, well, I’m only living up to my name, because not only can my Christian name be shortened to an anti-social disease, which I now have the misfortune to be on first name terms with, the Spanish word for AIDS is Sida – and my surname is Seed. Was someone trying to tell me something one wonders?
Although you can’t choose your surname, you can (and probably should) try to change it if it has symptomatic connotations, to avoid the future pitfalls of trying to live up to it. Take Amy Winehouse for example, who knows, she may have turned out completely differently if her surname had been Greenhouse, in which case, instead of choosing the demon drink, she might have opted for tomatoes.
If it’s true that people do live up to their names, then by rights, Stephen Fry should work in a chip shop. According to Stephen Fry in regard to surnames, all the Nutters are found in Blackburn, the Willies in Taunton and the majority of Bottoms, as well as Swains (pronounced swines) in Huddersfield. I can personally vouch for this, as I once had the misfortune to be married to a man from Huddersfield and although he wasn’t called Swain, he should have been.
It’s strange how surnames are often applicable, for instance, I was in Staples the other day getting some photocopies done and I fool you not, the man who served me, according to his name badge, was called Pamphlette. I was in Blackburn library today and the man who checked my books out for me was also called Pamphlette. Now either that Pamphlette chap puts it about a bit, or there is definite truth in the fact that it is all in a name.
My first name has always given me problems. Back in those distant days when I was growing up, it was very unusual, if not unheard of, for a girl to be called Adrienne. Adrian was a boy’s name and as a rule a posh boy’s name, so everyone, unless they saw me of course, in which case hopefully they changed their minds, always thought I was a boy – or worse, a posh boy. Hence, when I joined a book club, I was sent, ‘Biggles the Pilot’ instead of, ‘In the Fifth at Mallory Towers’. I once rushed home from school with my girlfriends for my eagerly awaited birthday party, only to find my birthday cake surrounded by a blue ribbon and decorated with a row of skulking Red Indians, with in prime position, a cowboy in billowing chaps hurling a lasso.
I believe it can be common practice for people to give their private parts pet names. I once had a boyfriend, who for some strange reason best known to himself, called his ‘Susan’. Maybe he was a staunch fan of Johnny Cash and had been listening to, ‘A boy named Sue’ and taken the message directly to his heart – or to his parts, or maybe he was just plain peculiar.
Luis my Spanish best friend/boyfriend of many years albeit not in the biblical sense, was here visiting me. His name always gets pronounced Louise in England, thus causing confused people to ask me, ‘How come you’ve got a boy’s name and he’s got a girl’s name?’
Anyone who knows anyone Spanish will know that ham or jamon is of important national interest and therefore a subject for infinite discussion. Luis became fascinated by the fact that lots of towns have the word ham in them – for instance, Birmingham, Lewisham, Nottingham, to name but a few. Not to mention the Royal connection to jamon, as in Bucking-jamon Palace and Jamonpton court. Taking him on a scenic drive through the Lancashire countryside, Luis suddenly became convulsed with laugher. “Mira mira,” he choked, “Padiham – Paddy ham, paddyjamon.”
If it’s all true and it really is all in a name, at least my surname isn’t Ramsbottom, or worse Shufflebottom – although that might be easier to live up to, especially if I had worms.
