Comments on: A note about Ashley.

By: alex

alex — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 12:25:21 +0000

And I’m a former Chicagoan and still a fan of Mike Sneed. As gossip writers go, she’s got the right voice, not to mention the right sense of discretion. How else does she get absolutely unsympathetic people like mob widow turned politician turned federal convict Betty Loren Maltese to open up and pour her guts out for an exclusive?

I always thought she had the most enviable job in the world, having fun with language while dishing dirt on the who’s who. And it’s just the sort of thing that keeps people buying papers. Fort Wayne Newspapers are you listening?

By: John C

John C — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 03:22:19 +0000

Then there is Chicago Sun-Times columnist Michael Sneed, who is a woman. I always liked the fact that, not only did she have a male name, her nickname was, and is, Mike.
Also … I seem to recall that when I started in the newspaper biz back in the early-mid 80s, there were a fair number of women journalists who used initials like C.J. or M.E. in their bylines as a way to neutralize the gender thing. Am I remembering this right?

By: wade

wade — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 19:48:21 +0000

My family’s full of out-of-place names… I had an Aunt Ted and have a niece Kingsley and nephew Jordan and the clincher - Canaan Justice.

By: Kim

Kim — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 19:07:38 +0000

Did a story once about a guy whose name was Vid, as in the second half of David. Turns out his father was only around half the time during the pregnancy, so the mom decided to give the child half the dad’s name. We can’t say “amanda” in our house without saying the surname, “hugginkiss.” I believe this was one of the stupid bar pranks on The Simpsons.

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 17:25:11 +0000

I used to work with a man named Faye. Also worked with a man named Shirley. My wife had a great aunt with the given name Kenneth. I could never get over hearing about Aunt Kenneth.

Connie Mack’s real name was Cornelius McGillicuddy and he was far better known for being a manager than a player, managed the Philadelphia Athletics for something like fifty years.

By: Danny

Danny — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 16:29:08 +0000

We have a couple of friends who are named Mandy. We have fun with that song at their expense. Like they’ve never heard that one before. I’m a dork sometimes.

By: Danny

Danny — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 16:26:28 +0000

Man, I love that song by Looking Glass. I saw a documentary a few years back where they were following the members of REM around. In one scene, Michael Stipe is in the back of a limo and starts belting out Brandy. Good stuff.

By: John

John — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 16:06:29 +0000

Barry Manilow’s 1974 “Mandy” was originally titled “Brandy” but Manilow changed it following this song’s success.
—Wikipedia

By: Kirk

Kirk — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 15:39:29 +0000

No, I mean Brandy, as in Looking Glass. If you’ve forgotten the song, more power to you. Mandy’s pretty bad too (the song, that is), but it’s a perfectly good nickname for Amanda that predates Barry.

It turns out that Brandy made No. 1 in 1972. It was selected as a single by none other than Clive Davis.

By: brian stouder

brian stouder — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 15:26:58 +0000

Well, my thinking always was: mom has to endure child-birth, therefore mom certainly gets naming rights.

Lobbying for this or that name could be attempted, but that could risk getting a name banned forever. I mentioned middle-name possibilities like Lincoln and Winfield (as in Winfield Scott Hancock, a tremendous presence at Gettysburg)…which failed to impress The Decider…although later, she DID choose Grant.

Still, I had no vote!

(edit: Kirk - do you mean Mandy? as in Barry Manilow?)