April14 2020 - What's in a Name?

There are people who see things in very funny ways.  Here's an example that popped up last week when the bad dog jokes popped up.  Perhaps there was a google humour day in the searching and retrieval algorithm. It makes me wonder about first names and surnames.  We think of surnames as coming about in England.  They were adopted between the 11th and 16th centuries. The aristocracy started the consistent use of surnames. The Domesday Book in 1086 is the marker for the introduction of family names.  That was so they could tax everyone, and know that everyone had been taxed. But much earlier, the Romans had personal and family naming conventions - both a personal name and regular surname. Well, quite complicated, with the tradition evolving over centuries.  But it broke down following the collapse of imperial authority in the west.   Today, we engage in names as a social convention and personality statement. Websites have recommendations for turning surnames into first names.  A great example is Beyoncé:  "The singer's full name is Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter. Her mother, Tina Knowles, chose the name because of her own French maiden name, Beyince."  I put that in quotes, because I wonder if her mother had spelling issues. Johnny Depp?  This is more traditional:  Depp is a surname of South German origin, from a nickname for a 'maladroit' person, or according other sources a comedian.  Ellen Page's surname is traditional - status name for a young servant, Middle English and Old French. And 50 cent? This is the personality statement name:  Curtis James Jackson III adopted the nickname "50 Cent" as a metaphor for change. The name was inspired by Kelvin Martin, a 1980s Brooklyn robber known as "50 Cent"; Jackson chose it "because it says everything I want it to say. I'm the same kind of person 50 Cent was."   It is a Cumbers and Toltec day - these are from our visit to Colorado in 2017.

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Olive the Reindeer

It is Sunday and time for a selection of Christmas jokes: Why does Santa have three gardens? So he can 'ho ho ho'! What do Santa's little helpers learn at school? The elf-abet! Why was the snowman rummaging in the bag of carrots? He was picking his nose! What did Adam say on the day before Christmas? It's Christmas, Eve! How come you never hear anything about the 10th reindeer? 'Olive, the other reindeer, used to laugh and call him names.' What do you call a bunch of chess players bragging about their games in a hotel lobby? Chess nuts boasting in an open foyer! Now what about the oddest Christmas records from the Guinness Book of World Records? The largest gathering of Santa Clauses - 14,000 people in Derry City, Northern Ireland on December 9 2007.  I expect they are having an anniversary get-together today. The largest gathering of Santa's elves - in Wetherby, North Yorkshire, on November 9th, 2013 with 1,110 elves. The largest gathering of people wearing Santa hats.  Anaheim, California in the Angel Stadium June 2014 - 30,333 people. We're at the Cumbres and Toltec rail yard in pictures today.

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Railroaders

Our picture today is the crew from the historical society ride on the Cumbres and Toltec line with the 315.. Q: What is the difference between a school teacher and a steam locomotive? A: The school teacher tells you to spit out your gum, while the locomotive says "Choo Choo Choo!" Q: Why can't the engineer be electrocuted? A: Because he's not a conductor! Q: Why can't a steam locomotive sit down? A: Because it has a tender behind Q: What do you call a train that eats toffee? A: A chew, chew train. Q: Why is the railroad angry? A: Because people are always crossing it!  Q: Why do you have to wait so long for a train on Halloween? A: They only run a skeleton service. Q: What do you get when you cross a Thomas Train and Shakespeare? A: Toby or not toby, that is the question! A man who had spent his whole life in the desert visited a friend. He’d never seen a train or the tracks they run on. While standing in the middle of the RR tracks, he heard a whistle, but didn’t know what it was. Predictably, he’s hit and is thrown to the side of the tracks, with some minor internal injuries, a few broken bones, and some bruises. After weeks in the hospital recovering, he’s at his friend’s house attending a party. While in the kitchen, he suddenly hears the teakettle whistling. He grabs a baseball bat from the nearby closet and proceeds to batter and bash the teakettle into an unrecognizable lump of metal. His friend, hearing the ruckus, rushes into the kitchen, sees what’s happened and asks the desert man, “Why’d you ruin my good tea kettle?” The desert man replies, “Man, you gotta kill these things when they’re small.”