Friday, January 02, 2009

Names

Yesterday Elka was trying to get me to agree that “Dudley” is a good name for Zoe’s baby. I could not agree to such a detestable name. Elka badgered me about it for a minute or so, but I wouldn’t budge. “Well, Dudley is better than Snakebite, or Mouse, or whatever Steve wanted to name the baby,” she said.

No, no, and no. Snakebite and Mouse are perfectly respectable names, though I don’t think Steve was in favor of either. “Dudley” is scarcely mentionable in polite society. I’m not saying Zoe circulates amongst polite society; I’m just saying that Dudley is a loathsome name, unacceptable outside of sketchy English earls in the court of Elizabeth I.

Snakebite or Mouse, she said. Snakebite or Mouse.

1 comment:

Ivan the Terrible said...

Elka? Elka? Hah! She can talk. In her shoes I'd stay quiet on the topic of silly names...

The secret of a happy marriage is compromise - happy marriages and disastrously short-sighted foreign policies. Why not split the difference and go with Mousebite? Cute, unisex, and yet with that slight sting in the tail. All the qualities of an Elizabethan earl, without the stupid name. Lovely!

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