Three Things

Did you miss me? I missed you.

My mother and youngest sister visited recently, and reading and writing, including blogging, went out the window. I’m not apologizing. My mom’s 89, and I’m going to take advantage of every minute I have with her.

That said, I’m back and have three things on my mind.

1. Is It Real or Is It Memorex?

On Tuesday, I recorded The Voice because I knew I wouldn’t be free to watch it at its starting time. Once the recorded show began, the drama of the bottom three finalists sucked me in. Twitter would save one of them! Carson Daly urged viewers to tweet to save their favorite. I’ll do it, Carson! I tweeted to save Kat. After I hit SEND, my husband gave me a sideways look. “We recorded this show, remember? The voting window closed a long time ago.” Sorry, Kat! (Luckily, the rest of America saved her.) 

Did a recorded show ever make a fool of you?

2. Smart Is Beautiful

George Clooney is engaged to marry Amal Alamuddin, a 36-year-old human rights lawyer who speaks three languages. Mackenzie Dawson, writing in the New York Post, applauds Clooney’s choice and speaks for me and every other mother of smart women. “There’s no greater aphrodisiac than a happy woman with a full life, who is passionate about something besides getting a ring on her finger. Just ask George Clooney.” Here’s the link. 

3. Only Connect!

I wince at billboards with misspelled/misused words and regularly remind students they’re isn’t the same as their and neither one’s a stand-in for there. Nevertheless, if we adults want kids to read, write, and speak their native language with fluency, we have to stop our slang-induced sniffs and knock it off with the disapproving looks.

In this New York Times article, John McWhorter argues the verbal tic like and the newish adverb totally do not degrade the language. Instead, they show the speaker’s/writer’s desire to connect. Here’s McWhorter:  “. . . amid what often seems like the slack-jawed devolution of a once-mighty language, we can find evidence for, of all things, a growing sophistication. Yes, sophistication — even in the likes of, well, “like,” used so prolifically by people under a certain age. We associate it with ingrained hesitation, a fear of venturing a definite statement. Yet the hesitation can be seen less as a matter of confidence than one of consideration. 

Do you think language is meant to, like, morph? Do you totally applaud the Alamuddin/Clooney engagement?

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

Would he be more handsome if his name was Ryan?

I’ve always had a thing about names so when I came across a piece from NPR called Baby Names: The Latest Partisan Divide?,  I couldn’t resist reading it. Apparently people in the conservative Midwest choose more creative and androgynous names like Paislee, Liberty, Rykan and Scottlynn for their children while New Englander’s favor traditional names such as Evan, Elizabeth, Rachel, Abigail and John. Hmmm.  An interesting study.

As a writer I think a lot about characters’ names before committing to them because I know how important it is for the reader connect with the persona I’m creating as quickly as possible. If my heroine is strong and adventuresome, Molly or Tillie won’t communicate those traits. An alpha-hero can be Will, Jake or Roarke but not Billy, Walter or Elmer.  A lot has been written about how names affect peoples’ reaction to a person. The BBC asked, “Would he be more handsome if his name was Ryan?” over a picture of George Clooney. Archibald Leach was certainly more attractive as Cary Grant and Betty Joan Perske was much sexier as Lauren Bacall. Would Tom Cruise still be a star as Thomas Mapother IV? And, yes, there’s a website with celebrities’real names if you want to see more. 

Historical author  Shana Galen wrote a great blog post about naming characters  where she said, “The author also has to choose a name she can live with for six months. If my archenemy is named Gabrielle, I’m not going to want to write that name a dozen times a day.” Good advice! She also warns that difficult spelling and pronunciation.   

If you want to know what names were popular in the United States when an American character was born, the Social Security website lets you search the most popular names by year.    This site can eat a lot of time, but it’s also fascinating to see how the popularity of names changes. Dorothy, Betty and Joan were common in the 1930’s, and disappeared from the list in the 1950’s when Linda, Susan, Barbara and Nancy hit the top 20. By the 2000’s, none of these girls names appeared in the top 200. On the other hand, Michael has been near the top of the boys’ names list since the 1940’s, and James and William have never dropped off. Does this data fascinate anyone else?

So what names do you respond to positively or negatively? Are there any that would turn you off to a character or book instantly? Any that would create instant rapport?