Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Inadequate aptronym alert
Local news:
Raymond Shawn Gunn, 39, is facing charges of unlawfully possessing a firearm, reckless endangerment and malicious mischief in connection with the Oct. 17 shoot-em-up at Jackson Hole Tavern, 122 S. Bowdish Road, according to the Spokane County Sheriff's Office. The tavern was closed and employees had just left for the night when the front of the building was sprayed with .40-caliber bullets.The aptronym is obvious, but Ray Gunn actually failed to live up to his name. He should have been using a laser, or perhaps a laser-guided rifle. Made me think about the irresistible nature of aptronyms. If you're a Gunn, do you feel pressure to become a shooter? Maybe. My own surname has aptronymic potential, yet I never felt the slightest push toward the occupation it seems to describe. Partly because the occupation is nearly extinct, but mainly because it's not really an occupation-name. The genealogists think it was an Irish place name that got corrupted into English form when it reached America, without any thought for the occupational meaning. Thus I don't have genes from an original worker in the supposedly described craft. Several different origins of Gunn appear on the web, but the most likely one comes from old Gaelic gunni meaning war or battle. So a Gunn does have warrior genes but not specifically gun-using genes. Gun as a device to explosively propel lead balls appears to have developed later from the same word for battle. = = = = = Couple days later: Here's a dead-perfect aptronym that couldn't have resulted from early pressure by the name, because the referent substance didn't exist until she was an adult....
Murder suspect Chrystal L. Huff was booked into Spokane County Jail just after 4 a.m. Wednesday. ... Huff has previous convictions for assault, violating a protection order, obstructing a law enforcement officer and conspiracy to possess a controlled substance.The article doesn't specify the controlled substance, but the mugshot tells us it's meth. Chrystal Huff is 40 and looks 80. Meth years.
Labels: Aptronym Alert
¶ 3:41 AM
