Tag: unusual

weird baby names, some banned

cowboy making hand gesturesIn America, you’re free to name your baby whatever you want.  For the most part, freedom is good; we don’t want tyranny.  But some countries’ governments feel it is their duty to protect people from stupidity.  A debate on whether that is good or not is beyond the scope of this article.

I started thinking about this because New Zealand just banned a number of baby names, including 18 that have been used in the U.S. (and some are popular).  Some of them make sense for other countries, like King, Princess, Duke, Baron, Majesty, etc.  Some are to prevent religious confusion or controversy, like Christ and Lucifer.  Someone cross-referenced their list with the U.S. Social Security Administration’s database and found that 46 boys in the U.S. are named Christ, and 8 are named Lucifer.  I just don’t know why someone would choose to name their child Lucifer.  Seems kind of forboding toward evil…  (That’s like naming your child “Important Evil Genius“, except even worse.)

Sweden has similar bans, although they extend it to names such as Superman and Metallica.  U.S. celebrities are becoming known for giving their children weird names.  A few examples:

Moxie CrimeFighter — child of Penn Jillette
Kal-El — son of Nicolas Cage
Pilot Inspektor — son of Jason Lee
Moon Unit, Diva Thin Muffin, and Dweezil — children of Frank Zappa
Pirate — child of Jonathan and Deven Davis
Tabooger — child of Dan Cortese
Tu Morrow — child of Rob Morrow

Having named a child now, part of the process process for us was trying to pick a name that people won’t make fun of too much.  Obviously you can’t stop all teasing and bullying, but some of those above are just asking for it.  Tabooger?  Guess what his childhood nickname will be…  And Tu Morrow?  Imagine the awkwardness when everyone he/she meets has a short pause upon learning the name, realizing it’s supposed to be funny but it’s not and then you don’t know how to respond to that.

On a related note, you can go to the Social Security website to see how popular your name has been in America the past few decades.

You’ll trade me what for a pair of shoes?!?

I came across this supposedly real news article, but I don’t have a link to prove its validity.  Nonetheless, given the other weird news I’ve come across, I can believe it.

Police were hoping for a good turnout at their “Kicks for Guns” sneaker exchange Friday, but they weren’t expecting to get a surface-to-air missile launcher. An Ocoee man showed up and exchanged the 4-foot-long launcher for size-3 Reebok sneakers for his daughter. Taking advantage of the exchange’s no-questions-asked policy, the man was not identified. He told the Orlando Sentinel that he found the weapon in a shed he tore down last week.

You know the economy is bad when people are trading in the family rocket launcher for a pair of tennis shoes. I blame Obama.

I wish I had more info.  I mean, how do you tear down a shed and happen to find a missile launcher?  That just doesn’t happen.  There has to be more to the story…

caption contest, who can explain this one?

We like to feature unusual photos for our weekly caption contest, to make it more interesting and more random.  We’ve had some really weird pictures so far, but this may be the most random one yet.  I challenge you to come up with a story that comes close to being plausible.  Of course, you can also make jokes or funny observations, if you don’t care to try to explain it.  Most of all, have fun with it.

(To see our other caption contests, click on the “Say What?” category in the sidebar.)

Occupy Denver elected dog as leader

If he could wield a lightsaber, maybe...

For a while the “occupy” movement was getting a lot of attention, with people camping out in city parks and such.  I figure there are valid points to be made, but some of them are hard to take seriously.  For example, the Occupy Denver movement elected a Border Collie to be its leader.  The dog’s owner was inspired to do this by a speech from Michael Moore.

That’s all I know about the story, and I’m not sure it’s worth the effort to know more.  I don’t know that more details would make it more intelligible…

I just don’t get it.  Is that supposed to make some statement?  What kind of message are they giving?  Are they begging for handouts / treats?