What's in a Name? (Part 2)
Earlier this month, I wrote a blog called “What’s In a Name?” and I reflected on how parents come up with names for their kids. I had no hidden intentions in writing it, nor was I trying to hint at anything. Please go ahead and read that one first…I’ll wait!
Turns out a few astute readers caught on (at least they say they did); especially when I was writing about Sean wanting to name our 3rd child (if and whenever that might be) Mike Joyful. Thinking back to May 1 (when I wrote the blog), I truly can’t remember if we already knew we were expecting, or if my conversation with Sean was just one of those cool coincidences.
Regardless, what I do know is that Mike Patin, our keynote speaker for Youth Day, was one of the first people to know, even before many of my family members and friends. When you spend almost 120 hours together, I guess you’re bound to share stories, secrets, and news.
Speaking of Mike and speaking of names, he certainly had a lot of fun with my last name. In explaining to him that the easiest way to pronounce my last name properly is to think of “Nemo” (as in Finding Nemo), my last name went from Imoo to Nemo to Kneejerk in about 3 seconds flat. Fortunately, we developed a healthy relationship right away, so he was comfortable in calling me Kneejerk and I was comfortable being called Kneejerk. Unfortunately, this happened within the first hour of his visit, so needless to say, I was Kneejerk to Mike all throughout Youth Day, even in front of Archbishop Roussin. By Monday, it had morphed into Beef Jerky. Probably to go with his Ebi Shitake.
At the Youth Ministry Office, Faye witnesses me butchering my own name every time I have to sign letters. Apparently, I’ve gone from Clay to Clon to Clar to Claty. She respectfully suggested that we purchase a signature stamp. I respectfully asked her to obtain 3 quotes.
I recently received an email from a good priest friend of mine who is currently studying overseas. In sending pictures to me (upon my request), he proceeded to name them “Photo for Clayron 1.jpg”, “Photo for Clayron 2.jpg” and so on. Sounds like a make-up or new type of technology.
Then, at Safeway last night, I was called Mr. Imod for the first time in my life. I mean, c’mon…I’m used to I-moo, Emu, and most recently, Kneejerk. But Imod? Sounds like a rejected Apple audio device or something. As I grabbed my grocery bags full of eggs, milk, procsiutto ham, and of course, Pepsi, I gave the clerk a puzzled look. Before asking him to repeat himself, I looked at my receipt and it was there in its full glory: MR CLAYTON IMOD. I guess I better fix my Safeway Club Card.
Going back to Sean and his baby-naming capabilities, I’m not sure I will ask Sean for any more suggestions for a while. All you have to do is look at how he names his characters on our Nintendo Wii.
(As an aside, it was hilarious when I surprised the boys with the game console last Friday. I lined up at Future Shop an hour before it opened, and was safely #2 in line. I was wearing a black dress shirt and khaki pants…the same colours as the employees. Needless to say, I answered about 27 different questions about the Wii, and probably only 3 of them were correct. When I brought the Wii home, Sean blurted out “Thanks Dad, I love you forever!” I was elated. As Sean and Jake ripped open the box, my smile left my face as I wondered aloud whether or not Sean would have made that same proclamation to love me forever if I had brought home a book instead). Anyway, I digress.
After creating characters for the 4 of us, Sean and Jake used their creative juices to make their own characters. The 4 characters looked relatively normal (well, except for the big, dark-skinned fellow with female hair, goatee, lipstick, and dimples) but their names were what confused me. Apparently, my sons like the names “gm,tu”, “g7p0uffg”, “lk2 8” and my personal favourite, “ZxdyADDVNH.” Tonight, I’m going to ask them how to pronounce the names. Now that should be interesting.
Mike Joyful Imoo…I guess it still has a nice ring to it. Better than Kneejerk Imod.
Turns out a few astute readers caught on (at least they say they did); especially when I was writing about Sean wanting to name our 3rd child (if and whenever that might be) Mike Joyful. Thinking back to May 1 (when I wrote the blog), I truly can’t remember if we already knew we were expecting, or if my conversation with Sean was just one of those cool coincidences.
Regardless, what I do know is that Mike Patin, our keynote speaker for Youth Day, was one of the first people to know, even before many of my family members and friends. When you spend almost 120 hours together, I guess you’re bound to share stories, secrets, and news.
Speaking of Mike and speaking of names, he certainly had a lot of fun with my last name. In explaining to him that the easiest way to pronounce my last name properly is to think of “Nemo” (as in Finding Nemo), my last name went from Imoo to Nemo to Kneejerk in about 3 seconds flat. Fortunately, we developed a healthy relationship right away, so he was comfortable in calling me Kneejerk and I was comfortable being called Kneejerk. Unfortunately, this happened within the first hour of his visit, so needless to say, I was Kneejerk to Mike all throughout Youth Day, even in front of Archbishop Roussin. By Monday, it had morphed into Beef Jerky. Probably to go with his Ebi Shitake.
At the Youth Ministry Office, Faye witnesses me butchering my own name every time I have to sign letters. Apparently, I’ve gone from Clay to Clon to Clar to Claty. She respectfully suggested that we purchase a signature stamp. I respectfully asked her to obtain 3 quotes.
I recently received an email from a good priest friend of mine who is currently studying overseas. In sending pictures to me (upon my request), he proceeded to name them “Photo for Clayron 1.jpg”, “Photo for Clayron 2.jpg” and so on. Sounds like a make-up or new type of technology.
Then, at Safeway last night, I was called Mr. Imod for the first time in my life. I mean, c’mon…I’m used to I-moo, Emu, and most recently, Kneejerk. But Imod? Sounds like a rejected Apple audio device or something. As I grabbed my grocery bags full of eggs, milk, procsiutto ham, and of course, Pepsi, I gave the clerk a puzzled look. Before asking him to repeat himself, I looked at my receipt and it was there in its full glory: MR CLAYTON IMOD. I guess I better fix my Safeway Club Card.
Going back to Sean and his baby-naming capabilities, I’m not sure I will ask Sean for any more suggestions for a while. All you have to do is look at how he names his characters on our Nintendo Wii.
(As an aside, it was hilarious when I surprised the boys with the game console last Friday. I lined up at Future Shop an hour before it opened, and was safely #2 in line. I was wearing a black dress shirt and khaki pants…the same colours as the employees. Needless to say, I answered about 27 different questions about the Wii, and probably only 3 of them were correct. When I brought the Wii home, Sean blurted out “Thanks Dad, I love you forever!” I was elated. As Sean and Jake ripped open the box, my smile left my face as I wondered aloud whether or not Sean would have made that same proclamation to love me forever if I had brought home a book instead). Anyway, I digress.
After creating characters for the 4 of us, Sean and Jake used their creative juices to make their own characters. The 4 characters looked relatively normal (well, except for the big, dark-skinned fellow with female hair, goatee, lipstick, and dimples) but their names were what confused me. Apparently, my sons like the names “gm,tu”, “g7p0uffg”, “lk2 8” and my personal favourite, “ZxdyADDVNH.” Tonight, I’m going to ask them how to pronounce the names. Now that should be interesting.
Mike Joyful Imoo…I guess it still has a nice ring to it. Better than Kneejerk Imod.
posted by Clay at 2:05 PM
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