names

The Involuntary Transgender Dating Service

Hamilton Nolan · 01/25/10 10:16AM

Notable trend noted by the New York Times news-paper: Transgender individuals often choose to change their names along with their sex. And New York City is a popular place to do so! The more you know. There used to be a law that name changes had to be advertised in the news-paper, which had the fringe benefit of helping transgender people to make new friends:

The Most Ridiculous Names to Appear on The Simpsons

Mike Byhoff · 01/11/10 01:12PM

The Simpsons just celebrated its 20th Anniversary, and names like Homer and Bart have become ingrained upon our cultural identity. However, they've invented many other names, not as immediately recognizable. Here's a massive compilation of the best and funniest.

Consultant Somewhere Fired

Hamilton Nolan · 06/29/09 02:41PM

What to call the Nigerian joint venture with Russia's Gazprom, hmmm? Hmm. "Nigaz." That's an even worse faux pas than Gazprom's Ukrainian joint venture, "VladimirPutinIsAnEvilFucker." [Post your own joint ventures in the comments!]

Talk Fashion the Fancy Way

Hamilton Nolan · 06/11/09 03:27PM

We know why you're not accepted in the fashion world: because you don't know how to pronounce the names of all those foreign designers. Don't be ashamed. Many people pronounce "Dolce & Gabbana" like uncouth Americans. Youtube can help!

'Freedom' Just Another Word For '8-Year Boondoggle'

Pareene · 03/27/09 10:16AM

God, this decade? It sucked. Wes Anderson stopped making good movies, the Vikings lost Mike Tomlin and hired Brad Childress, and this complete asshole named George Bush was our president. For like eight years! Ugh!

Fight The Power Of Times Rap Name Discrimination!

Hamilton Nolan · 06/24/08 01:41PM

Ring the alarm: the paper of record is treating rappers separately and unequally! In a surprisingly fresh piece of analysis, the Columbia Journalism Review unearths the NYT's sneaky tendency to "birth-name" rappers more than other musicians. (They also coin the term "birth-name," which I like, although for the sake of hip hop consistency they should say "government-name"). That means, for example, that RZA gets second-referenced as "Robert Diggs," but Marilyn Manson gets to keep his stage name throughout Times stories. That is so foul! Government names are nerdy. Plus, culture editor Sam Sifton gives a nonsense nilla explanation for the discrepancy:

"Googlegangers": Don't Say This

Pareene · 04/10/08 09:38AM

This cute thing with the Googlegangers in the Times? You know, where people search for other people across the country with their same name, and feel some sort of mystical kinship, or something, because of innate biological self-similarity biases? Some people have funny last names that were made up out of whole cloth a couple generations ago at Ellis Island or somewhere, like in An American Tail. These people have no Googlegangers, which is a stupid word, because everyone on Earth with that last name is directly related to them and probably embarrassed by what's being done with it on the Internet. The closest non-relative these hypothetical people can manage to track down on the Google might be Dana Perino. So screw you, "Jon Lee" and "Jason Rodriguez." [NYT]

Radio Lady Calls Clinton Name!

Pareene · 04/03/08 01:37PM

Air America host Randi Rhodes called Hillary Clinton a whore! Oh nooooooo outrage!! Rhodes, who has always been a cross between an outrageous stand-up comic and a naughty drive-time shock jock, has a regular show on the liberal radio network that no one listens to. The clip of her calling Hillary a whore was taken somewhere or other at some point in time and posted to YouTube by some guy. It's a scandal to those who need to actually pretend to take Randi Rhodes seriously in order to feel outraged about something. Also she calls Geraldine Ferraro a whore but no one cares. Anyway, Air America suspended her. Clip after the jump!

Pareene · 11/27/07 05:20PM

Greenpeace is satellite tracking some whales for some sort of whale-saving purpose and they'd like you to help name them. They have a list of 29 incredibly twee names (Atticus! Jacques! Libertad!) and one awesome one, so it's up to you to go vote for "Mister Splashy Pants." [Greenpeace]