The Brussels Post, 1974-02-06, Page 2Old store at Beechwood
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What's in a name? Quite a bit, if you're
going to be stuck with it for the rest of your
life.
When the young people were trying to •
think of a name for niy new grandson, I
started pondering on this whole business of
Christian monikers.
Naming of children seems to go in
cycles. And the names in one generation
seem either ugly or affected to the people
of the next generation.
' There was a time, when girls were quite
happy to be called Pearl or Ruby, Mabel or
Myrtle or Elsie. If a girl were given a name
like that today, she'd run away from home
at the age of five.
The same period produced boys' names
like Elmer, Horace, Marvin, not to mention
those two great poets, one Greek, one.
Latin: Homer ana Virgil;
That was known as the bad period to be
tagged. Before that was the romatic
period. In my mother's family, the boys
were dubbed things like Drayton,
Emerson, Lionel, Ivan. On my wife's side,
her mother was Sophia, and her mother's
sisters were Charlotte and Esther.
Those ladies wound up as Sophie, Lottie "
and Acey, but the damage was done. My
wife's mother named her Ivy and her sister
Iris, but they didn't turn out to be a couple
of clinging vines. My wife hates her name
so I call her Suse, which seems to suit her.
My own mother was on the ebb-tide of
the romantic period, but she did name her
daughters Florence and Norma. They
wound up as Floss and The. Brat , so it
wasn't too bad.
With the boys' names, my ma wjsn't too
bad, but my brothers are Byron Arnott
Keith and Donald -Allan Blake , and I'm
William Bryant Thomson.
Not too awful, really, but my brothers
emerged as Blake and Arnott, I have been
called Billy, Bill, Willie and Will, among
othe't 'things, but have never been known
as William, except in legal documents.
I was the lucky one: I grew up in an, age
of Jacks and Bobs and Bills and Joes and
Toms. A Gordon was suspect, and a Homer
was hooted out of the gang, unless he could
find a nickname like Stink or Piggy or
Greaseball or some such affectionate
nomenclature:
In my grotip, there was a Harold, an
Arnold and a Clayton. They were tolerated
because they became Smokey Oakes, Goon
Imeson arid Pappy Warren.
After my generation, a new Wave of
snobbery se t in, as women started Calling
their kids after heroes in the Ladies Hand
Journal and British novels.
There sprouted a whole crop of Peters
and Stevens and Michaels and Jeffreys and
Christophers and Marks and Matthews and
Nicholases and Davids and 'ans. There
wasn't a George or a John in the lot.
And the girls got it too. There were
Samanthas and Natalies and Sonyas and
Patrices and Lises and Pamelas and
Elizabeth Janes and Rhondas and
Deborahs.
My God, were there Deborahs! I have
five of them this year in a class with twelve
girls in it.
Finding a girl called Mary these days is
just as tough as finding a boy called John.
Oh, I'm not blaming the parents all that
much. It's no joke, choosing a name. We
were going to call our first-born Judy,
because it was to be a girl. It didn't have
the right plumbing, so we named it Hugh,
after a Sir Hugh Smiley in Ireland. 'And 'do
you know, the old skinflint didn't even put
our boy in his will?
Second time around, we took no chances.
The kid was to he called Kim, which would
suit either sex. We thought it was
different. The only Kim around was Kim
NoVak. A dozen years later, there was a
Kim on every street-corner.
Well, like all grandparents, not' wanting
to interfere, just trying to be helpful, we
tried to ram a name down my daughter's
throat for her infant.
But most of the good ones were gone. In
her own connection, there are
already: a Peter and a Paul; a David and a
Hugh; a Steven and a Patrick; a Matthew
and a Darcy. All the good ones were
gobbled up.
We suggested Geoffrey and Mark and
Michael and others, and at each, she'd say,
"Eehhhh, that reminds me of . . ."
The kid was a week old. I was getting
desperate. I asked my students to Jhelp me.
They really tried. They came up with
Charley and Cool -hand Luke and Jim and
Oscar. Big help.'
Well, I know the suspense is killing you,
NsoicIo'vll tecllh.eThey named the poor little kid
Nicov(pronouriced Kneecove)' is a
character in a DOstoievski novel. Chen
(pronounced Shen) means in Chinese
'first-born'',
Her mothers face didn't fall more than a
foot. My 13loodpresSure went up only
tWenty pointS.
However, lie said smilingly; it'S kinda
cute when you get Used to it. Rtisiian,
Chinese; and his last name is Sieber, which
is Getriiati. A real Conglomerat e.
As Soon as lit's up to mine, I'M going to
call him Kriee6p,
Sugar and Spice
By Bill Smiley
presents a
contest at
included 4
Jeanne Kr
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Parents, rel.
athered at Gr
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ast week to
peaking Co
upils from a
chool took pal
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James Axtrr
he school, wa
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Classes, with
ollows:
Kindergarten
of recited the s
heir own style
he audience -
Those in othe
he subject of 1
Gades 3 & 4
Grades 5 &6
Grades 7 & 8
Runner Up
The winner of
dvance to furt
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of able to corn!
ill replace hir
Judges for
ere R. B. ,
uperintendent
uron County,
ce-chairman
ounty Board
rs. E. Keened
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Students who
Kindergarten
berry Fraser,
eanne Fraser,
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Brussels Post
!MUSSELS
ONTARIO
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1974
Serving Brussels and the surrounding community,
Published each Wednesday afternoon at Brussels, Ontario
by McLean Bros. Publishers, Limited.
Evelyn Kennedy - Editor Tom Haley - Advertising
Member „Canadian Community Newspaper Association and
Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association.
Subscriptions (in advance) Canada f$6.00 a year, Others
$8.00 a year, Single Copies 1.5 cents each,
Second class mail Registration No. 0562.
Telephone 887-6641.
The coal miner's side
The coal miners of Great Britain have come in for
a lot of flack recentiy. Prime Minister Edward Heath
seems at times to be blaming them for
singlehandedly causing both the energy crisis and
the three day week which some Britons are working.
In the governments battle' against crippling
inflation the coal miner in some fashion has become
the enemy. The coal miners are accused of trying to
wreck the country.
Most people here, and probably in England are
down on the British coal miners who are the latest
: villians in the "these strikes are getting out of hand
and something must be done" conversations.
In fact, it is interesting to note that the British
coal miners are not on strike, they have only refused
to work overtime.
The majority of miners in at least one mine never
did work overtime, according to a reporter in the
Toronto Star who went down to the pit with a shift of
miners in Murton, England. The British miners don't
get paid for their shifts until they actually reach the
coal seam, 1,000 feet beloW the surface, even though
they've spent about half an hour preparing to go
down.
Likewise, the British Coal Board stops paying
miners when the cage (elevator) picks them up at the
seam at the end of an eight hour shift.
While underground the miners get a twenty
minute lunch break, for which they are .not paid.
Miners often work their whole shift up to their
knees in water and are cramped up for the whole
shift. The dangers of mining are well known in this
country. Fingers and limbs are often lost, and
miners' compensation is not the best.
Miners top wage in, Murton is a take home pay of
$73. Not too many people would like to work
overtime in dust that gets in your food and your
lungs, with water and noise all around you, after
working all week for $73.
British miners are threatening to strike, but so far
they're only refusing to work overtime.
It might be a good time to recognize the new high
status of coal in an energy short society and pay the
miners a bit more for dangerous work under difficult
conditions despite the added fuel such action might
contribute to inflationary fires that threaten. Britain.
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