Archives
8:37:00 AM EDT
Hearing Why -- Annie Lennox
Weekend Assignment #61: You Named Your Pet WHAT?!?
As I'm on the move today, I'm posting the Weekend Assignment a little early and will otherwise update later in the day (i.e., when/if my plane lands without incident). And I thought I'd make this week's assignment something fun and silly. So here goes:
Weekend Assignment #61: What is the most ridiculous name you've ever given a pet? Because, you know, once you've had a few, all the obvious names are taken, and I think most of us get a little slap-happy. "Ridiculous" could mean an absurd name, or a name in opposition to the pet's physical or character traits (i.e., calling a Great Dane "Tiny"), or something else that just points out that there's something goofy about your pet's title. The pet can be current or former, and -- since these are also a source of amusing names -- if you had a ridiculously named stuffed animal at any point in time, you can include that. Also, if you have a show dog or cat, their "formal" titles certainly belong in the ring.
Extra credit: Well, a picture of said ridiculously-named pet would be nice.
My most ridiculously-named pet: Ghlaghghee.
No, it's not Celtic, nor any other language other than English. And it's pronounced "fluffy." As to why this little cat has got such an odd-looking name, well, I'll tell you. When we got the cat, we decided that we would let Athena, who was four, name her. Or actually, Krissy said we should do it, and I went along, but I said: "Yeah, but we have to tell her that stupid names like 'Fluffy' are immediately disqualified." And then we told Athena she could name the cat, and literally the very second before the words "But you can't call her 'Fluffy'" escaped my lips, Athena said "I'll call her 'Fluffy!'" As the great moral philosopher Homer Simpson once so eloquently put it: D'oh!
In my personal attempt to make peace with such an asinine name, I turned to the variability of the English language. George Bernard Shaw, who hated the variability of English and campaigned (unsuccessfully) for phonetic spelling, once pointed out that English spelling was so confusing that it was entirely possible to have a word that was spelled like "ghoti" but pronounced as "fish." And that's what's going on with "Ghlaghghee" -- it's the "gh" in enough and the "a" in another, and then of course the "l" and "ee" are conventionally used. It made for a ridiculous enough spelling that I was okay with the name.
Now, I understand some people would have gone with the "ph" for the f sound ("Phluphphee"), or some other combination ("Ghlufphy," "Flaphghee," "Phlughfy," or perhaps even "6}{149}{|=33," in "leet speek"), but I think there's something about Ghlaghghee that just works, you know? Perhaps it's because visually, it's so glottal. If you tried to pronounce the word like it's "supposed" to be pronounced, you'd probably cough up a hairball. And isn't that appropriate.
That's my ridiculous pet name: Now tell us yours. Write up in your Blog or Journal, and then come back here and leave a link!
Written by johnmscalzi Blog about this entry |
Add to del.icio.us | 
digg this
-
My kittens name is Rambo.I have a guinea pig named Chong
-
My cats are (hey) Jude, and Abby(road)...then my son's girlfriends gave hima kitten which they named Roxie.....I tried for rigby......
-
My girl friend brought this little shiny black female puppy home one Saturday morning and was assured by her nephew that she would grow up to be nothing but a small lap dog. I was a little hesitant at first because her slick black coat hinted toward Black Lab, but her square head indicated otherwise.
Her slick, shiny coat demanded that she be given a name so special that would set her apart from the pack. Ebony,,,,,nah. Blackie,,,,,nah. Slick,,,,nope, Midnight,,,,no way! She deserved something more special, something that would take some real thought. Weeks passed and still our baby remained nameless. Then it came to me, this will be her name.
Back in the day, as told by the great blues guitarist BB King, he was playing the juke-joint circuit when one night while performing in a one room shack of a club, a fight broke out and overturned a pot bellyed stove. As the flames threatened to burn the place down, everyone ran for their lives, even BB. But everything happened so fast that he left his guitar inside. He ran back into the burning shack risking life and limb and retreived his guitar. As everyone watched in disbelief, their drinking establishment burn to the ground. The word going around at the scene was that the two men were fighting over a girl named Lucille; and as they say "the rest is history".
So some 16 months after laying eyes on little Lucy our 70lb lap dog we've grown to love, we too would risk life and limb to save her as BB King did for his beloved Lucille....the combination of the intelligence, devotion, and gentleness of the Black Lab and the aggression, loyaoty, and strength of the Pit Bull has given us THE perfect lifetime companion.
Lucy answers to a variety of nick-names such as Lucille, Lucille McGillacutty, Lucilla Magilla, Lulla Belle, Ludy Bug but most of all the rustle of a snack wrapper or some man food item.
Wednesday, May 25, 2005 Checking In >
Friday, May 27, 2005
Back to Journal
10/10/05 11:00 PM