For this month’s Ten Things I thought we might have a bit more fun.
Over the years I’ve come across many strange, but perfectly genuine, names given to people. They range from the apparently ordinary (I once worked with a guy called Carl Marx) to the totally outrageous. Here are a few of the more outrageous. Ten Remarkable Names of Real People
About thirty years ago we had a vacation student working in our office who went by the name of Fanny Hyman …
… which I think is one step worse than the friend of a former colleague called Simone Kuhnt.
Of course these aren’t all people I’ve encountered. Some, like the charity worker spotted in 2003, come from media reports. This lady was called Patricia Titti; I just hope she isn’t known as “Pat”.
Continuing in this somewhat dubious vein, I once played cricket against a guy called Jimmy Riddle.
Or again, back in 2000, there was a Urologist at the Devon & Exeter Hospital by the name of Brenda Wee. Which I think beats the urologist by the name of Jack Cox who once treated me.
Going to the more mundane, we shouldn’t forget the former English rugby player, Austin Healey.
But why is it that the medical profession seems to have more than its fair share of odd names, like the Canadian medic, spotted in 2001, by the name of Prof. Lester Grimspoon.
Although to be fair the Victorians had their moments too. Doing family history searches recently I spotted Leonardi Da Vinci Williams (died 1846 in Lambeth).
Oh but there are modern ones too, like Summer Helps whose birth was announced in the Times in 1997.
Nevertheless I’m almost totally convinced that first prize must go to Patriarch Moran Mor Ignatius Zakka I Iwas, Supreme Head of the Universal Syriac Orthodox Church who died in 2014.
Japanese artist and jeweller Shinji Nakaba specialises in making tiny wearable sculptures. The pieces come in all shapes and sizes, but his most prolific series involves human and animal skulls carved from oyster pearls and attached to rings, necklaces and brooches.
This week I thought we’d have a wartime offering from the cartoonist Jon, famous for his “Two Types” — eccentric British Army Officers so often encountered in wartime.
According to the Weird Universe website, quoting the Houston Chronicle of 12 August 2010 …
Playboy magazine has long published an audio edition, and the Library of Congress produces a text edition in Braille. However, as a Houston Chronicle reporter learned in August [2010], a Texas organization (Taping for the Blind) goes one step further, with volunteer reader Suzi Hanks actually describing the photographs — even the Playmates and other nudes. “I’d say if she has large breasts or small breasts, piercings or tattoos,” said Hanks. “I’ll describe her genitalia. I take my time describing the girls.” “Hey, blind guys like pretty, naked girls, too!”
In early August this year crowds flocked to the Dumfriesshire town of Moffat to cheer and place bets on their favourite sheep during the fourth annual Moffat High Street sheep race.
Baa, ewe are ‘aving a giraffe, aren’t ewe?
No, they really do race sheep, complete with knitted jockeys and a boy shepherd. What’s more, the race is over hurdles. See here …
There are lots more pictures in the Guardian report.
Just like every other age the Victorians had a wide variety of slang, much of which has not survived. For example: Bang up to the Elephant
This phrase originated in London in 1882, and means “perfect, complete, unapproachable”. Bags o’ Mystery
An 1850 term for sausages, “because no man but the maker knows what is in them”. The ‘bag’ refers to the skin in which the chopped meat is contained. Mutton Shunter
This 1883 term for a policeman is so much better than “pig”.
Find more at 56 Victorian Slang Terms That We Should Definitely Bring Back.
In the US, summer is state-fair season, which means it is a time of sugar- and fried-fat-based comfort snacks that hardly ever appear anywhere except at state fairs. Recently reported examples include: caviar-covered Twinkie (Minnesota), mac-and-cheese cupcake (Minnesota), deep-fried Oreo burger (Florida), deep-fried gummy bears (Ohio), deep-fried beer (Texas) and old favourites such as chicken-fried bacon (Texas), spaghetti ice cream (Indiana), Krispy Kreme chicken sandwich (California), and nacho balls (Iowa; right).
As reported News of the Weird, Yahoo Food and Grub Street.
Eccentric looks at life through the thoughts of a retired working thinker
In the US, summer is state-fair season, which means it is a time of sugar- and fried-fat-based comfort snacks that hardly ever appear anywhere except at state fairs. Recently reported examples include: caviar-covered Twinkie (Minnesota), mac-and-cheese cupcake (Minnesota), deep-fried Oreo burger (Florida), deep-fried gummy bears (Ohio), deep-fried beer (Texas) and old favourites such as chicken-fried bacon (Texas), spaghetti ice cream (Indiana), Krispy Kreme chicken sandwich (California), and nacho balls (Iowa; right).