Monday, September 04, 2006

It Smells The Same

Annie's comment on my last post started me thinking about names. When it comes to cemeteries, I love names that are common words. Those names keep me in business with the cemetery blogging.

My own last name lends itself to being made sport of. It is a word meaning small. (My grandfather was 6'5" or so. My grandmother was 6'1" and both of my aunts were 6' tall, even though one of them liked to describe herself as "five feet, eleven and one half inches". My dad is 6'7" tall.) I share this name with a famous musician. Remember Tom _____ and the Heartbreakers? And also with a family of Nascar drivers - Richard and Kyle and Adam and... Have you figured it out yet?

Even though I didn't change my name when I got married, there is one time I always use my husband's name. I always use it when I go out to eat. One of my favorite pastimes is eating alone (apologies to Milton) with a good book. I like to go to good restaurants, order a good meal and enjoy my book.

The problem is the hostesses never get my last name right. Or even if they do, the p.a. system garbles it when they announce my table. I can't tell you how many times I've sat in a crowded foyer of a restaurant only to hear "Pity, party of one."


Stick a book under your arm and walk through a crowd alone after that. Ha!

One evening last week, the dinner table conversation turned to names. Katie was curious about where names come from. We told her what little we know about it and that seemed to suffice. Then she asked if we were related to any famous people. Jackson told her what little he knows about his family and I told her what little I know about mine. We reeled off a rather unimpressive list of semi-famous kinfolk. Jackson told her about Sir Roger somebody or other who was a big muckle-de-muck in Wales. I mentioned a few semi-notable folks including my great-grandmother's uncle, James Steven Hogg. (He had a daughter named Ima. Remember them?)

After listening to all that, Katie sat thoughtfully for a few moments then said, "Well, some of my friends are cheerleaders."

16 comments:

P M Prescott said...

"Listen my children and you shall hear,
of the ride of Samuel Prescott"

Somehow it didn't rhyme, so Paul Revere goes down in history, though he didn't make the trip.
Sometimes the name is a problem because of the way it sounds.

spookyrach said...

Listen my children while I plot
of the ride of Samuel Prescott.

How's that?

Linda said...

I share a last name with a major car company and a former president. I had my entire fourth grade class believing that the former vice president turned president was my uncle when he was sworn in after the pres resigned, but even that wouldn't carry the weight that knowing cheerleaders did. ;-)

don't eat alone said...

Eating with a good book is not alone, I think. No apologies necessary.

Peace,
Milton

PS -- I married a cheerleader.

annie said...

I remember Ima Hogg. She was real live person, right...or is that an urban legend I fell for? I think she was real, though why anyone would name their child such a thing is beyond me. My children's favorite when we were living in Houston was H.E. Butt (HEB grocery stores)

Ahah! She is real! Check it out--http://www.famoustexans.com/imahogg.htm

spookyrach said...

You're right, annie. The legend was that she had a sister named Ura (you're a) Hogg. The sister part ain't true. (Too bad we're not closely related enough for me to be mentioned in the will!)

jonboy said...

I don't mind referring to you as a Hogg ...

spookyrach said...

Watch out, jonboy. I know where you live.

P M Prescott said...

Where were you when Wordsworth was writing that poem?

I remember the late unlamented dining hall at Wayland -- Slaughter Hall. We all thought it was appropriately names as the food was awful. I heard though that Mr. Slaughter put up money for a hospital too, and that when someone recommended they name it Slaughter Hospital that He told them absolutely not.

spookyrach said...

Haaa! I knew about Slaughter Hall, but I hadn't heard the hospital story. That's great!

don't eat alone said...

What would have been Slaugher Hospital is Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas. I worked as a chaplain there years ago. Anther hospital across town changed its name to RHD Medical Center because people didn't want to come to Robert H. Dedman Hospital.

My folks went to Baylor with HEB -- I remember my dad telling me Howard dated a woman named Rusty. I suppose they didn't get married for obvious reasons.

Peace,
Milton

spookyrach said...

bWAAAHAHAHA! Thanks for the cool history, Milton. That's hillarious!

Princess of Everything (and then some) said...

People BUTCHER my last name!

And I was not a cheerleader but I was a member of the pep squad. That is not cool is it?

Anonymous said...

I know some cheerleaders, too. Dang, I'm so cool.

Karen Sapio said...

My sister was a cheerleader.

Baby Gator said...

I knew a girl that was related to Geranimo...the Indian. I was not a cheerleader, my brother isn't a cheerleader either. Gomer's sister wasn't a cheerleader.