Nominative determinism 5 and similar stuff

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

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Some gems contributed by André Brands (thanks André!):

The New York Times employs a journalist called Louise Story. And you may know already that the US Secretary of Education is called Margaret Spellings, and that the former Reagan White House spokesman was Larry Speakes.

André also reports another very funny name, if you're acquainted with financial terminology: the Head of Investor Relations at Deutsche Bank is a Vincent Libor. LIBOR is the often-quoted London Interbank Offered Rate:

"What is LIBOR? LIBOR stands for London Interbank Offered Rate. It is the rate offered by a specific group of London banks for U.S. dollar deposits of a stated maturity and is the rate at which banks borrow funds from other banks, in marketable size, in the London interbank market. As such, it is the most widely used benchmark or reference rate for short term interest rates on adjustable or variable rate credit accounts/loans."

And I have noticed that there is a lecturer in London named Minger who must have rued the coining of that slang term. If it were me (I'm obviously not made of as strong stuff) I might well be reaching for the deed poll.

While, for a related funny, there is actually a job title "Director for horizontal affairs". An interesting (drumroll) position, no doubt!

Technorati Tags: humour, humor, funny, nominative determinism, aptonym, aptonyms, aptronym, aptronyms, interesting names, funny names, Improbulus, A Consuming Experience, Consuming Experience

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2 Comment(s):

You made me look up "Minger" in the slang dictionary, not a popular expression here in the States. But I plan on peppering my speech with it from now on.

Director of Horizontal Affairs-now that's a job I want.

(By Kirk, at 26 October, 2005 06:35) Edit Comment

The Greek name Aristarchus - 'excellent ruler' - in its patronymic form, i.e. 'son of Aristarchus' it becomes Aristarchides, or Excellent Testicle. ...My family also knew a Mr. Kolopanos, or Arsewipe. And his wife, Mrs. Arsewipe.

(By john_hurt, at 08 March, 2006 02:05) Edit Comment