fame & glory
What’s in a Name?
2011.03.05 | Just a bunch of silliness, really | André the Giant, fame & glory, prudence | 6 Comments
Being a family history guy I’ve always had some interest in the etymology of names. It’s fascinating to look at the trends throughout history and in various parts of the world. For example, back in the day in Britania, it was not uncommon for a couple to name their oldest son after the husband’s father, and the oldest daughter after the wife’s mother. In Scandinavian countries, last names often changed with each generation and spoke of the relationship to the father: Gunderson (son of Gunder), Olafsdotter (daughter of Olof), etc. Even occupations (Taylor), locations, (Attwater – dweller at the water), and physical features (André the Giant) helped determine the names of individuals in divers periods, locations, and wrestling federations.
Perhaps my favorite naming trend, however, was the giving of “exemplary” or “successful” names to children in the hopes that the child would thus be inspired to live a better life. For girls, these often took the form of virtues: “Thankful”, “Virtue”, and “Prudence”, just to name a few. For the boys, it was all about titles: “President”, “General”, “Doctor”. How awesome is that? It is a mystery to me why such naming practices died out, but it is something I am determined to remedy. I hereby announce to the world my intention to set my future sons on the right path in life by giving them worthy titles as first names. In addition to the three previously mentioned, I’ve come up with some additional options as well:
- Czar
- Admiral
- Fuhrer
- Governor
- Captain
- Caesar
- Kaiser
I can’t wait to have kids.
Now That’s Quality Television…
2009.07.29 | Updates in the life | fame & glory, opinions | 16 Comments
There I was, minding my own business when my friend Shawn texted me with an important business proposition (all important business transactions are done via text message these days—in fact the current proposed 1000+ page Health Care bill was originally submitted as a series of 15,172 text messages). “Would you be willing to do a TV interview?” he asked. Now, to the average Joe, this might seem like an off-the-wall question, but when you’re as famous as I am these TV spots are a regular thing. My television debut happened at the ripe age of seven when I was featured during the closing credits of the local news fishing on free fishing day (I caught a carp, which sadly was not caught on tape—I used worms). That experience was followed a mere 10 years later by my very own commercial wherein I recited a poem I had written for a contest/school assignment commemorating the likeliest of subjects: “Black History Month”.
My response, naturally, was to promptly forget about the text. In fact, I’m pretty sure I forgot about Shawn entirely there for a few days… I’m sure I was doing something highly important at the time, like signing autographs or participating in a celebrity charity fund-raiser. No, really, I was more likely than not getting ready for a round of disc golf and I can’t exactly let myself get distracted from my game, otherwise it throws of my groove and then Tyler beats me, and we can’t have that happening, now can we?
So we golfed. And I’m sure I won. And I forgot about said TV interview. Then a week-or-so later I ran into Shawn and he again asked about my willingness to be interviewed. Turns out Shawn works for a local cable provider and has the responsibility of coming up with programs they can air on one of their stations. He came up with this idea for a show where they interview, as Shawn put it, “important, influential locals…” he paused, looking for the right words, and I started to feel highly flattered/important/influential, as he continued, “…and really really opinionated people.” Suddenly it all makes a little more sense. And so I, slightly-dejected/highly-opinionated/non-imporant-or-influential Rob Martin took the gig.
The day of the interview came and we talked about really exciting topics including the recession, independence, and old people. Sadly, though, we didn’t even get into topics I felt particularly opinionated about. Topics like: my shipping container dream home, library book detectors, or Poland. Still, it’s a start. I’m sure my public will be pleased.
