Fashionistas you have arrived 3-25-03 - 10-3-03

[robustpuppy]

The big list of the top three names for boys since 1900 is stunning for its lack of variety.

In this era, it would be wise for prospective parents to consult this database before naming the kid in order to assess how googleable any given name will be when combined with the kid's last name.

I'd opt for a higher level of anonymity, but that's because I have a shady past.

[ms. naughty diplomat]

Originally posted by robustpuppy
In this era, it would be wise for prospective parents to consult this database before naming the kid in order to asses how googleable any given name will be when combined with the kid's last name.

I'd opt for a higher level of anonymity, but that's because I have a shady past.

maybe that explains all of the weird spellings.

ms. knaughtie diplamatt

[bilmore]

Originally posted by robustpuppy
I'd opt for a higher level of anonymity, but that's because I have a shady past.

I assume you mean, opt for Joan or John Smith because they're indistinguishable from everyone else?

(We picked our kids' names based on how easy they are to distinguish when listening over a police scanner.)

[Atticus Grinch]

Originally posted by bilmore
I think that, for their own reputations in a fairly hetero-centric world, they should avoid forming all-boys clubs as much as possible.

Well, true. Yet, a whole lotta secret buttlove happens in frats where half the boys are named Austin,* so maybe the name has less to do with it.

* This is a slam on frats; it's not meant as a slam on men named after municipalities. It's just that I know of one fraternity where nearly every major Texas city is consistently represented by a first name in each pledge class. No word on comparative homosexuality, but rumor held that their initiation ceremonies involved ingestion of, um, each others' guacamole in a competitive session. But they didn't touch each other, so it wasn't, you know, gay. NTTAWWT.

[AngryMulletMan]

Originally posted by Atticus Grinch

He said they're basically condemning their child to a life in which their first interaction with every new person they meet will be an argument.

Maybe that's why the MulletMan is Angry.

Maybe. But that doesn't explain why I don't have a mullet and I'm not a man.

Burninate, that, Trogdor!

[AngryMulletMan]

Originally posted by Atticus Grinch
a whole lotta secret buttlove

Now THAT would be a great board motto. NTTAWWT.

[lawyer_princess]

Originally posted by paigowprincess
Nope, its par for the course. I just dont expect it from a sage and mature woman like lp. Its kid stuff.

Look paigow, your constant belittling of people who weren’t raised in relative wealth and education is just a little too condescending for my taste. We get it, classy people don’t say classy. Drop it already.

And BTW, are you calling me old again?

[bilmore]

Originally posted by Atticus Grinch
Yet, a whole lotta secret buttlove happens in frats where half the boys are named Austin,* so maybe the name has less to do with it.

Oh, I wasn't speaking to the actual buttlove, but rather to the misplaced perception of buttlove, which is an entirely different kind of social reaming these days.

[robustpuppy]

Originally posted by bilmore
I assume you mean, opt for Joan or John Smith because they're indistinguishable from everyone else?

(We picked our kids' names based on how easy they are to distinguish when listening over a police scanner.)

I am making a mental note. The anonymity option would make it harder for me to find the kid on google after he deposits me at the nursing home.

[Atticus Grinch]

Originally posted by bilmore
Oh, I wasn't speaking to the actual buttlove, but rather to the misplaced perception of buttlove, which is an entirely different kind of social reaming these days.

Gotcha. BTW, at the risk of this being a trademark painfully earnest response, I feel that the destigmatization of homosexuality will come more quickly as a result of the overuse of that social reaming and desensitization to it, rather than its elimination.

You'll do more damage to the rednecks when kids start saying, "And?" when they're called "fags" or what-have-you, than when you have adults saying "Gay or not, that's not a very nice thing to say about someone, so take it back." In that way, it's a bit unlike the N-word. If the S.F. Bay Area is any kind of social bellwether in this arena, political correctness types are unintentionally preserving these words by making them taboo in the name of sensitivity, which, while laudable, is an utterly doomed project for a schoolyard. "Fag" was bandied about on my schoolyard, and over time it became a milder and milder perjorative, which I think prepared me to be very accepting by the time H.S. arrived.

But I'm not gay, so maybe it's not my place to suggest this. "Fag" probably hurts a lot more when you are questioning your sexuality.

[notcasesensitive]

A victory for the overly litigious --

CAMDEN, New Jersey (AP) -- A high school student who sued to claim the title of valedictorian as hers alone doesn't have to share the honor with two other students with lower grade point averages, a judge ruled Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Freda Wolfson ordered the Moorestown school district to name Blair Hornstine the sole valedictorian for the class of 2003.

Hornstine, 18, who completed many of her courses during the past two years with tutors because of an immune deficiency, argued that she should be the only valedictorian at next month's graduation because she has the highest grades at Moorestown High School.

The school district argued that the shared honors were fair because it was impossible for the other two students also chosen as valedictorians to match Hornstine's GPA. As non-disabled students they were required to take classes such as gym that receive less weight in calculating the average.

But Wolfson said the school's decision "would send the message that we have two valedictorians this year, a disabled one and a non-disabled one."

In a written statement, Hornstine said that sharing the valedictorian title would have left the next disabled student unprotected. The school board president said she did not know what step the board would take next.

The case will move forward to trial on Hornstine's claim for damages. Her lawsuit seeks $500,000 in compensatory and $2 million in punitive damages, as well as legal fees and costs.

Hornstine, who said she plans to become a lawyer, is not the first student to sue over the right to be valedictorian of a high school class.

In the last year alone, judges have been asked to consider similar cases in Ohio, Washington and Michigan. In two of the cases, students who wanted to be included as co-valedictorians were allowed by judges to be included. The third case, in Michigan, involves a student who wanted an A changed to an A-plus so he would be more likely to be valedictorian.

n(if its all about the "disability" what will the $2.5 million do for her?)cs

[Aloha Mr. Learned Hand]

Originally posted by notcasesensitive

Hornstine, who said she plans to become a lawyer...

Absolutely stunned by her career choice.... She has a bright future ahead of her. :eyeroll:

[LessinSF]

I stopped worrying about being perceived as homophobic because I use the word "cocksucker" as an epithet (not to mention that it too is a term of endearment). It is just too good a word.

Originally posted by lawyer_princess
Look paigow, your constant belittling of people who weren’t raised in relative wealth and education is just a little too condescending for my taste. We get it, classy people don’t say classy. Drop it already.

And BTW, are you calling me old again?

Fine bitch.

[AngryMulletMan]

Originally posted by Atticus Grinch
Gotcha. BTW, at the risk of this being a trademark painfully earnest response, I feel that the destigmatization of homosexuality will come more quickly as a result of the overuse of that social reaming and desensitization to it, rather than its elimination.

You'll do more damage to the rednecks when kids start saying, "And?" when they're called "fags" or what-have-you, than when you have adults saying "Gay or not, that's not a very nice thing to say about someone, so take it back." In that way, it's a bit unlike the N-word. If the S.F. Bay Area is any kind of social bellwether in this arena, political correctness types are unintentionally preserving these words by making them taboo in the name of sensitivity, which, while laudable, is an utterly doomed project for a schoolyard. "Fag" was bandied about on my schoolyard, and over time it became a milder and milder perjorative, which I think prepared me to be very accepting by the time H.S. arrived.

But I'm not gay, so maybe it's not my place to suggest this. "Fag" probably hurts a lot more when you are questioning your sexuality.

Sometimes I forget that I live in a place that's much more "tolerant" than other places. But I still get pissed about the implication that one's sexuality is something that anybody else should tolerate.

We decide whether, and to what extent, we're willing to tolerate PDA's.

We have no business deciding whether to tolerate other people's sexual preferences.

It's kind of like the way women always criticize men for leaving the seat UP, yet would be quite puzzled if men criticized us for leaving the seat DOWN. I don't hear a lot of crap from the gay community about tolerating the sexual preferences of breeders.

So, yeah, de-stigmatizing language is an important step in that direction.