there wasn’t enough butter to bother with a separate dish
― karmic blowback for dissing pip and jane baker (Autumn Almanac), Monday, 13 April 2020 09:12 (four years ago) link
more convenient to set the kitchen alight
Fela Kuti came from a well-off family of public intellectuals and studied music at one of the most prestigious conservatories in the world. I'd always enjoyed his music but never looked into his biography beyond the basic "they threw his mom out a window you know" stuff
― Dan I., Monday, 13 April 2020 19:18 (four years ago) link
Allspice is just one single spice and not a Five Spice+ mixture
― Non, je ned raggette rien (onimo), Monday, 13 April 2020 20:10 (four years ago) link
xpI really liked Michael Veal's biography of Fela back when I was absolutely obsessed with him (so maybe take this rec with a grain of salt). Wole Soyinka is Fela's cousin fyi
― dip to dup (rob), Monday, 13 April 2020 20:34 (four years ago) link
that "Sandy" is a shortening of "Alexandria" or "Alexander"
― an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK), Tuesday, 14 April 2020 22:37 (four years ago) link
Next you'll be telling me you didn't know Eck is short for Alexander.
― The Corbynite Maneuver (Tom D.), Tuesday, 14 April 2020 23:14 (four years ago) link
Wait huh? Every Alexandra I've know has gone by Alex.
Every Sandy i knew was a Sandra.
I know some Alexandras become Sandys but that's a minority innit?
― genital giant (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 15 April 2020 00:18 (four years ago) link
Used to be more common
Alexander -> Sandy used to be pretty big
― mh, Wednesday, 15 April 2020 00:32 (four years ago) link
I guess Sandra is itself a shortening of Alexandra too?
― an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK), Wednesday, 15 April 2020 02:51 (four years ago) link
and Xander = Alexander
― genital giant (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 15 April 2020 03:00 (four years ago) link
and Robin Zander = Cheap Trick
Clover, the band that played on Elvis Costello's My Aim Is True and later mutated into Huey Lewis & the News, was founded by Alex Call, the guy who wrote "867-5309/Jenny" (and Pat Benatar's "Little Too Late").
― Bougy! Bougie! Bougé! (Eliza D.), Wednesday, 15 April 2020 07:28 (four years ago) link
Assume the Sandy discovery related to Ms Denny?
BUt yeah assumed that Sandra shortened to Sandy too.
― Stevolende, Wednesday, 15 April 2020 08:08 (four years ago) link
also the effect of the presence of silica under certain circumstances.
― Stevolende, Wednesday, 15 April 2020 08:10 (four years ago) link
I didn't know, until I read Dan's post above just now, that they threw Fela Kuti's mum out of a window.
― the grateful dead can dance (anagram), Wednesday, 15 April 2020 08:16 (four years ago) link
xxp but Sandra is also a shortening of Alexandra, as mentioned
― an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK), Wednesday, 15 April 2020 08:18 (four years ago) link
years ago i read that linda came from a shortening of saralinda, which i thought was interesting bcz no one is called saralinda any more
anyway i was shockingly old when i learned this theory is false and saralinda doesn't even appear on the linda wikipedia page (it's still true that no one is called this anymore)
fact: the name wendy was coined by j.m.barrie in peter pan, where it derives from fwendy-wendy (i was shockingly young when i learned this and have not yet recovered from the shock tbqh)
― mark s, Wednesday, 15 April 2020 10:15 (four years ago) link
I think Sandy, as a diminuitive of Alexander or Alexandra, could be Scottish in origin? Certainly the name Sandy for a man seems very Scottish, but it could just be more common due to Alexander being, historically, a very popular name in Scotland.
― The Corbynite Maneuver (Tom D.), Wednesday, 15 April 2020 10:17 (four years ago) link
it is thought that Barrie took the name from a phrase used by Margaret Henley, a five-year-old girl whom Barrie befriended in the 1890s, daughter of his friend William Henley. She called Barrie her "friendy-wendy", which she pronounced as "fwendy-wendy". She died at the age of five and was buried, along with her family, in Cockayne Hatley.
:(
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 15 April 2020 10:36 (four years ago) link
the odd phrasing of that last sentence is conjuring some surprising images
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 15 April 2020 10:38 (four years ago) link
Cockayne Hatley
Someone should be called this so I can post it in the Great Real Names thread.
― The Corbynite Maneuver (Tom D.), Wednesday, 15 April 2020 11:16 (four years ago) link
"My name? Oh yes, it's..."
― nashwan, Wednesday, 15 April 2020 11:17 (four years ago) link
Cockayne Hatley is totally one of the villages in the Midsomer universe
lol to help gussie up an amusing fake MM plot involving the burial alive of 5-yr-old margaret henley's entire family per tracer's post i glanced at the wikipedia entry on actual real MM plots: they cannot in fact be parodied, they are nuts
― mark s, Wednesday, 15 April 2020 11:22 (four years ago) link
Knew about the Sandy business because of the film director Alexander 'Sandy' Mackendrick (who was Scottish-American)
― Ward Fowler, Wednesday, 15 April 2020 12:24 (four years ago) link
I guess you guys missed the right-wing 'AOC used to go by Sandy!' bullshit after the dance video kerfuffle
― Number None, Wednesday, 15 April 2020 13:22 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kB1d0eey5ho
― Fleetwood Machiavelli (Ye Mad Puffin), Wednesday, 15 April 2020 13:28 (four years ago) link
When Mackendrick was six, his father died of influenza as a result of a pandemic that swept the world just after World War I.
― The Corbynite Maneuver (Tom D.), Wednesday, 15 April 2020 13:47 (four years ago) link
Was going to say BÖC manager Sandy Pearlman, but it turns out his name is actually Samuel which puts a wrench in that particular wheel
― quartet for the endocrine (Matt #2), Wednesday, 15 April 2020 13:51 (four years ago) link
Lex! And Al/Ally.
― The Corbynite Maneuver (Tom D.), Wednesday, 15 April 2020 13:52 (four years ago) link
Actually I thought Ally McCoist was Alexander but he's actually Alistair, which is, of course, a Gaelic form of Alexander.
― The Corbynite Maneuver (Tom D.), Wednesday, 15 April 2020 13:54 (four years ago) link
There was a saralinda a few years ahead of me in high school - so probably 50ish now - and I thought it was a crazy made up name that no on on earth had but her, like it was some WASPy version of Bobbie Jo or Peggy Sue
― joygoat, Wednesday, 15 April 2020 13:56 (four years ago) link
the princess in thurber's THE 13 CLOCKS (1950) is called saralinda, which probably ensured a fair few children roughly that age with that name
― mark s, Wednesday, 15 April 2020 14:04 (four years ago) link
in fact judging by google ngrams thurber actually invented it and there's a HUGE burst of it on and around 1950
― mark s, Wednesday, 15 April 2020 14:09 (four years ago) link
I don't mind "Saralinda" if that's someone's name; seems quaintly charming. And yes, 13 Clocks is a formative work for me.
Sara / Sarai / Sarah are biblical, presumably of Hebrew / middle-eastern origin? And Linda is Latinate ("pretty" in Spanish).
So it's a bit of a centaur, onomastically speaking.
― Fleetwood Machiavelli (Ye Mad Puffin), Wednesday, 15 April 2020 14:28 (four years ago) link
wtf re: Wendy
That is completely crazy to me
Alexandra = Sandra = Sandy is not weird or surprising to me, Margaret = Peg is weirder
― we have no stan but to choice (flamboyant goon tie included), Wednesday, 15 April 2020 14:41 (four years ago) link
A friend of mine was always threatening to name her first-born son Jordache but it never happened, she named him Leon instead
― we have no stan but to choice (flamboyant goon tie included), Wednesday, 15 April 2020 14:42 (four years ago) link
linde also from german and the linden tree
― mark s, Wednesday, 15 April 2020 14:45 (four years ago) link
A lot of nicknames appear to date from times when there were just way fewer names to go around.
Margaret (and variants) gave us Peg, Meg, Maggie, Marge, Greta, Gretel (from the German Margarethe) and also Rita (from Margarita).
Sarah gave us Sally and Sal. Mary gave us Molly. John gave us Jack. Ann / Anne gave us Nancy and Nan and probably Nanette as well.
I am totally cool with these nicknames becoming names in their own right! Almost named a daughter some of these nicknames.
I too am surprised by Wendy being such a new coinage.
― Fleetwood Machiavelli (Ye Mad Puffin), Wednesday, 15 April 2020 14:48 (four years ago) link
Almost all of the weird abbrevs come from a vogue at one time for rhyming nicknames, so you shorten it then rhyme likeWilliam will billRichard Rick dickMargaret meg pegRobert rob bob
― Microbes oft teem (wins), Wednesday, 15 April 2020 14:50 (four years ago) link
The picture must have been infinitely weirder in ancient Rome, where proper names were rather scarcer.
"Hi, I'm Julia. These are my daughters Julia Major, Julia Minor, Julilla, Juliana, and, um, Julia Tertius (I think). Fuck it, I lost track a while ago and just say HEY YOU! KID! CUT THAT OUT."
― Fleetwood Machiavelli (Ye Mad Puffin), Wednesday, 15 April 2020 14:53 (four years ago) link
Hank and jack are two I’ve always found the weirdest, like ppl just really wanted that hard k sound in there
― Microbes oft teem (wins), Wednesday, 15 April 2020 14:57 (four years ago) link
(shoulda said Tertia but whatev)
― Fleetwood Machiavelli (Ye Mad Puffin), Wednesday, 15 April 2020 14:58 (four years ago) link
Foreman has 12 children, five sons and seven daughters. His five sons are George Jr., George III ("Monk"), George IV ("Big Wheel"), George V ("Red"), and George VI ("Little Joey").
― Andrew Farrell, Wednesday, 15 April 2020 15:10 (four years ago) link
So far, none of his children has been named "Grill."
― Fleetwood Machiavelli (Ye Mad Puffin), Wednesday, 15 April 2020 15:11 (four years ago) link
john, sean, eoin, jack
― ole uncle tiktok (darraghmac), Wednesday, 15 April 2020 15:47 (four years ago) link
johnny, ivan, ian
― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, 15 April 2020 16:57 (four years ago) link
... Jock.
― The Corbynite Maneuver (Tom D.), Wednesday, 15 April 2020 17:08 (four years ago) link
Skipping all the baby-name stuff to second the recommendation of Michael Veal's Fela biography. It's a fantastic book. His book on dub - Dub: Soundscapes and Shattered Songs in Jamaican Reggae - is also excellent.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Wednesday, 15 April 2020 17:12 (four years ago) link
― Bougy! Bougie! Bougé! (Eliza D.),Wednesday, April 15, 2020 12:28 AM (fourteen hours ago) bookmarkflaglink
I didn't know any of this
― COVID and the Gang (jim in vancouver), Wednesday, 15 April 2020 21:46 (four years ago) link