Name Blame
Funny how we often like or hate names based on people we know. If the first Jenny or Megan or Wendy you met was really cute, that's probably how you'll think of that name. Or if some bully was Frank or Jason or Matt you probably wouldn't name your kid that.
Which got me thinking--what's the biggest loser name I could think of? I decided it was Ralph. Now I personally didn't know any Ralphs growing up, so the name makes me think of....
Ralph Kramden, lovable loser from Bensonhurst...
Ralph Branca, the pitcher who threw the ball that became the Shot Heard 'Round The World...
Ralph Malph, the second-biggest nerd on Happy Days (#1 being Potsie, and no parents name their kid Potsie).
Oh yeah, to "ralph" also means to vomit.
PS After I wrote this I decided to look up famous Ralphs I hadn't thought of. There's Ralph Lauren, but I don't care that much about fashion. There's Ralph Fiennes, but it's not pronounced like the America Ralph so it doesn't count. There's Ralph Nader, who was sort of cool at one time but has edged closer to being a crackpot. There's Ralph Macchio, but I'm not a big fan of The Karate Kid movies. There's Ralph Waldo Emerson, but I think it's the Waldo that makes that name.
So Ralph as loser stays.
posted by LAGuy @ 12:11 AM
5 Comments:
My first bully was a Charlie, and combined with Sheen, that's a scary name for me. But then there was Chaplin. Here's a question I don't know the answer to - did Chaplin ever play a role in a film that had a name (rather than little hobo or another description).
I think what is most interesting about this post is how hard you worked on rebutting the central assertion, then went with it anyway. Sort of opposite your usual approach.
Circa 1970-72, I named my pet gerbil Ralph because it sounds like such galumph's (galoot's?) name. (Actually I named him George at first but then someone reminded me that was the name between John-Paul and Ringo). I did love my gerbil but he was extremely rodent-like. He eventually killed and ate his partner gerbil Kurt (named by others)- which was very unRalphlike behaviour.
In the early films that made him famous Chaplin's character was occasionally know as Charlie, but as a celebrity in general his name became perhaps the best known in the world.
And you're leaving out some other big ones, such as Bronson, Manson and And The Chocolate Factory.
Thanks. Asshole.
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