4.0795 Names and Dogs (3/47)

Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Sun, 2 Dec 90 23:51:35 EST

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 4, No. 0795. Sunday, 2 Dec 1990.


(1) Date: Thu, 29 Nov 90 11:38 EST (17 lines)
From: "Tom Benson" <T3B@PSUVM>
Subject: Re: 4.0775 Illegal Names

(2) Date: Wed, 28 Nov 90 22:51 MST (15 lines)
From: Sigrid Peterson <SIGPETER@CC.UTAH.EDU>
Subject: Re: 4.0775 ... Names

(3) Date: Fri, 30 Nov 90 10:24:25 PST (15 lines)
From: tshannon@garnet.berkeley.edu
Subject: Re: 4.0775 Rs: Dogs ...

(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 29 Nov 90 11:38 EST
From: "Tom Benson" <T3B@PSUVM>
Subject: Re: 4.0775 Illegal Names

In THE MONKEY'S WRENCH, Primo Levi writes about the naming of the
narrator's interlocutor. The man's father wanted to name him
"Libero" (freedom) but the Italian Fascist authorities at town
hall would not permit it. So he got around the problem (he thought)
by naming him Libertino, thinking it a diminutive for freedom, and
hence naming his son "libertine."

Levi also discusses, as I recall, the tradition that the legal name
must be the name of a saint.

Tom Benson
Penn State

(2) --------------------------------------------------------------24----
Date: Wed, 28 Nov 90 22:51 MST
From: Sigrid Peterson <SIGPETER@CC.UTAH.EDU>
Subject: Re: 4.0775 Rs: Dogs and Names (3/36)

Having worked for a while as a statistician for Vital Statistics at the
State Department of Health, on the subject of government control of
names, I can say that the Registrar of births tries hard to avoid
registering a name such as Ima Hogg. Names of extreme length are also
discouraged, which most often in- volves names of Native Americans. How
much control/what kind of control we have here I will leave to others to
debate.

Sigrid Peterson
University of Utah
SIGPETER@UTAHCCA.BITNET
(3) --------------------------------------------------------------26----
Date: Fri, 30 Nov 90 10:24:25 PST
From: tshannon@garnet.berkeley.edu
Subject: Re: 4.0775 Rs: Dogs and Names (3/36)

Just a quick note of humor on sayings involving dogs. There's a
well-known German saying (actually in Swabian) portraying the Swabians
as industrious people: "Schaffe, schaffe, Haeusle baue", meaning
roughly "Work, work build a little house." One take-off on this (no
doubt not from a Swabian!) continues: "Hund abschaffe, selber belle",
meaning "Get rid of [your] dog, bark yourself."

I thought the [Swabian?] dog lovers among us would [not?] appreciate
that one!

tom shannon