Posting challenge

[magnetic_pole]

First, a fannish announcement: wrisomifu is back again! Not up for NaNoWriMo and 1667 words a day? For wrisomifu, you need only commit to writing for ten minutes every day throughout November, and you're encouraged to complain bitterly about it the whole time. New members are accepted on October 30 and 31--check out their introductory post here.

Belatedly following on delphi's and perverse_idyll's example:



1. In 2000, while staying at a hotel, I tripped over the corner of a king-sized bed and fell on the floor. I broke my fall by putting my arm out, and my elbow snapped about 90 degrees in the wrong direction. I was reassembled by an orthopedic surgeon who treated injured members of the local football team, and I now have about twenty screws in my elbow holding me together. Despite several months being stretched out in a rack (really, the medieval kind), my left arm no longer fully extends.

2. My first name in RL is one of the most common for women born in the US in the decade in which I was born. During elementary school, every class had two or three girls named [First Name,] and so I often think of myself as [First Name Last Name,] because it's been so important to clarify which [First Name] I was. I asked my parents once why they'd chosen it, and they said they simply thought it was a beautiful name; they had no idea so many other young parents in their generation were choosing it.

3. I find it disturbing how easily I write Dumbledore, and how much fun I have doing so. You draw your own conclusions.

4. I can name all the stops in my local subway system. (Though, lest my head swell too much, I should point out I don't live in New York, Seoul, Shanghai, Paris, or London.) As you might expect, this is a sign I'm fascinated by transit systems. It also means I used to have a good memory--though I suspect these days I couldn't memorize the list.

5. I can be surprisingly ignorant of pop culture. Many years ago, while working at a book store, I hesitated to lend a pen to a customer. "We only have two left up here at the counter," I said. "You'll bring it back, right?" Turns out it was Damon Wayans, signing autographs. He was very gracious about it and returned the pen. My coworkers laughed at me.

I've abbreviated the challenge from "Ten Random Things" to "Five," lowering the barrier to entry for those of us who have led unusually unremarkable lives. Anyone want to join me?

Comments

[delphi]

I love reading other people's answers for this. :-)

#3 might be my favourite, and #4 deserves kudos (once again from someone who regularly has transit disasters), but I can relate to #2. My name only ranks 130th for the decade of my birth, but I was always one of two or three girls (or girls and boys) with my name growing up and so always had to be [My First Name][My Last Initial]. It seems to have been an eastern trend though, as ever since I moved west, people often comment on how unusual my name is for someone my age.

[magnetic_pole]

It's really fun, isn't it? Hopefully I'll encourage some meme-age.

That's fascinating that your first name isn't that common nationally and yet showed up in your neighborhood! I didn't realize regional differences were that strong. Mine's first nationally, and very specific to the years I was born, so I've had a strong sense of a cohort as I've aged--I remember being in my early 30s and starting to see my name in the news, as [My First Names] became old enough to Do Things. M.

[delphi]

It might also be a socioeconomic thing. My name, with my spelling, actually peaked in the '60s - but then there was a trendy variation in the '80s that tended to cluster along with names like Desiree, Destiny, Star, Brandy, Kayla, etc., which I also don't see much of any more in my current circles.

Have you seen this animated map of the spread of #1 girls' names state by state? http://jezebel.com/map-sixty-years-of-the-most-popular-names-for-girls-s-1443501909

[magnetic_pole]

Socioeconomic, definitely, and subcultural--after I posted this, a friend and I had a long conversation about where black folks' naming patterns overlap with white patterns and where they differ, and how middle class blacks differ from working class blacks, and how everything changed radically in the 1970s, etc.

I *love* that map, D! Thank you. M.

[delphi]

It's funny because I ended up in a similar conversation with a friend, who was trying to posit that she and I represent the two sides of First Nations naming (although I was named entirely by my white dad, so conclusions may be groundless). There's the trendy, aspirational name that seems modern and unique to the namer but is soon deemed "trashy" by society at large, and then there's the tradition of naming a child after an elder, resulting in a bunch of late 20th century elementary schoolchildren named Jane and Bertha and Albert and John.

She declared herself the winner, because middle-class white people have decided her very traditional name is on-trend. But I say just wait. In 150 years, Destiny and McKayla, and yes, even Robyn-with-a-y (or with a y-n-n-e) will be venerable great-grandmother names too.

[magnetic_pole]

There's the trendy, aspirational name that seems modern and unique to the namer but is soon deemed "trashy" by society at large, and then there's the tradition of naming a child after an elder,

That sounds similar to what my friend was talking about. Her theory was that US pop culture in general draws heavily on African American culture, but that naming (which seems very pop-culture-ish at first glance) is one area where whites draw strong lines between themselves and blacks. (Obviously, there are other things going on with other racial and ethnic groups that affect this dynamic, too.) So instead of drawing on black creativity, whites denigrate black naming patterns without transforming them into something more "mainstream

But I say just wait. In 150 years, Destiny and McKayla, and yes, even Robyn-with-a-y (or with a y-n-n-e) will be venerable great-grandmother names too.

:) M.

[boxofdelights]

2. ME TOO. In French class I got to be Solange because girls who came earlier in the alphabet got Susanne and Susette, but for most of my primary education I was Susan R.

[magnetic_pole]

That [First Name Last Initial] approach makes me smile--such a reminder of my childhood. I was also called Big [First Name], both because I was older than the other [First Names] and also always a bit taller and, well, rounder. Didn't bother me a bit back then, though now I look back and cringe.

Meanwhile, I like Solange! You were lucky to miss out on the common first names. :) M.

[liseuse]

#2 strikes a chord! Especially as I went to Catholic schools and there is a slightly limited range of "popular Biblical names" for girls that seems to get used. There was always at least one other My Name in a class. Though, I did do better than people called Rebecca, because my year had ten of them.

[magnetic_pole]

Ah, I'd forgotten about the Catholic connection! Your first name fascinates me because (at least given my experience here in the US), it's a got a classic, staying quality. You could send an e-mail and no one would know how old you are. Folks can always date me. (In the chronological, not romantic sense!) :)M.

[liseuse]

Oh yeah, outside Catholic education my name is firmly in the Solid Classics category. It's also relatively classless, which I like. I mean, I think it's edged into Emerging-Middle-Class these days as people like mother, and the next generation, shifted up a class and started naming their daughters, but it still has a relatively wide socio-economic spread to it.

[magnetic_pole]

still has a relatively wide socio-economic spread to it.

*nods* That's what Kelly was pointing out over at LJ, how certain names are much more closely associated with certain class backgrounds, while others cross those boundaries. Interesting stuff! M.