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Post by whollygoats on Jun 14, 2013 1:07:21 GMT
Evidently, my fellow 'Merkins think that my name is pretentious. When introducing myself to high school acquaintances, I'd occasionally get the question, "Is that 'the Third' (III)?" Then, when I got my first job at age 16, working at the local branch of the county library, our custodian was an older gent who had immigrated from Ireland as a young man. After I was introduced to him, he evidently approached the librarian, my boss, to ask why I was working there. She informed him that I probably needed to earn money for school. He seemed to think that anybody with my family name would not need to work for earnings. So...I know pretentious, or at least what my countrymen think is pretentious. I'm just glad I didn't get some monikers like Bertram Haycroft or Alexander de Freese Pendrake or William Robert to append to my surname. Your middle name is Vanderbiltwaldorfrockefellerguggenheim, isn't it? My middle name? No....that's another nationality entirely, one associated with the 'geld'. It's short and sweet, if obscure and a mite indistinct.
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Post by jayme on Jun 14, 2013 1:09:40 GMT
Is it "Bif"? ;D
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Post by whollygoats on Jun 14, 2013 1:29:09 GMT
LOL. No. It's a nationality. Really. A descriptive term for a nationality.
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Post by jayme on Jun 14, 2013 1:36:02 GMT
Ute?
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Post by whollygoats on Jun 14, 2013 2:27:57 GMT
No, sorry.
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Post by tangent on Jun 14, 2013 6:17:06 GMT
Your middle name is Vanderbiltwaldorfrockefellerguggenheim, isn't it? ... by the sea-e-e-e-e 🎶
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Post by ProdigalAlan on Jun 14, 2013 7:52:47 GMT
Oh boy Steve - that's blast from the past, that's real grandpa material
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Post by JoeP on Jun 14, 2013 8:22:16 GMT
Danegeld?
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Post by Alvamiga on Jun 14, 2013 8:22:56 GMT
I am not a Grandpa and I got it! If you say Goat's middle name three times, does he disappear?
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Post by jayme on Jun 14, 2013 11:20:22 GMT
Beetlejuicebeetlejuicebeetlejuice! *waits*
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Post by Mari on Jun 14, 2013 14:12:10 GMT
Franz.
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Post by JoeP on Jun 14, 2013 16:31:41 GMT
Hun? Pom? Frank?
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Post by whollygoats on Jun 14, 2013 19:11:07 GMT
Oh boy Steve - that's blast from the past, that's real grandpa material Hey....I already have two ukuleles! By the beautiful sea...
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Post by whollygoats on Jun 14, 2013 19:13:04 GMT
I said it was associated with geld, not was the geld. Drop the '-geld' and you're spot on, JoeP. Is the result not a term for one of another nationality?
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Post by JoeP on Jun 14, 2013 20:19:09 GMT
Dane, then?
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Post by whollygoats on Jun 14, 2013 21:46:00 GMT
Indeed.
Since, as my middle name, it was different than my father's middle names (he had two), and we shared the same first name, I was known by this name until I entered high school at 14. At that point, every form I was required to fill out requested "last name first, first name middle, middle initial last", and I dutifully filled them out that way, I became known outside of the circle of my family and primary school friends by my first name. I also found out that it was far more obvious and less obscure and indistinct against similar sounding names like Dean, Dan, Don, Dwayne, Wayne, Lane, and I was not perpetually correcting people about my name. To this day, somebody calling me by that name is usually quickly identified as a family member.
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Post by Moose on Jun 14, 2013 22:34:24 GMT
Hey...the William Robert combo is exceedingly popular here, particularly in the South. That's where it becomes shortened to the classic 'Merkin white trash name, 'Billy Bob'. As such, it is the antithesis of pretentious. Puts me in mind of Bill Bryson in The Lost Continent, my paraphrase, when in a diner in the South: 'I had the feeling that if I'd shouted 'phone call for you, Bubbah,' every man in the room would have stood up'
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Post by whollygoats on Jun 16, 2013 16:57:33 GMT
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Post by Mari on Jun 16, 2013 17:00:28 GMT
Haha thanks. I had a great birthday. Nice and relaxed filled with food and family
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Post by whollygoats on Jun 16, 2013 17:02:54 GMT
Hey...the William Robert combo is exceedingly popular here, particularly in the South. That's where it becomes shortened to the classic 'Merkin white trash name, 'Billy Bob'. As such, it is the antithesis of pretentious. Puts me in mind of Bill Bryson in The Lost Continent, my paraphrase, when in a diner in the South: 'I had the feeling that if I'd shouted 'phone call for you, Bubbah,' every man in the room would have stood up' My understanding is that 'Bubba' is the diminutive for 'brother', rather like the more modern 'Bro'.
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Post by Mari on Jun 16, 2013 18:09:54 GMT
I've got this stuck in my head... That guitar riff reminds me of Wickie the Viking.
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Post by whollygoats on Jun 16, 2013 18:49:55 GMT
Heh....Any time anybody says "birthday", those riffs run through my head.
Of course, I've always misinterpreted the second line, but that's common for me.
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Post by Moose on Jun 18, 2013 17:25:47 GMT
Back to worrying, I do it ALL the time. It sounds funny but it's really not to say that if I don't worry then I worry that I am not worrying . I waste a lot of precious brain energy on worrying about things that probably won't happen and even if they did there's nothing at all I could do about them.
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Post by whollygoats on Jun 18, 2013 19:12:35 GMT
It's not worth worrying about worrying. Don't worry about it.
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