11208 Noninative Determinism (very funny)

[I]The New Scientist [/I]gave it the name nominative determinism - the idea that there is a link between people's names and their occupation.
In their book [I][URL="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Yes-50-Secrets-Science-Persuasion/dp/1846680166/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1229432898&sr=8-6"]Yes![/URL][/I], Goldstein, Martin and Cialdini cite the classic piece of research that supports the idea that nominative determism really exists. A study of the rolls of the American Dental Association shows that more people called Dennis become dentists than you would expect if the choice of profession were purely random.
And now we have the exquisitely named [URL="http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article5344752.ece"]Bernard Madoff[/URL], making off with his client's cash.
Here are my top 10 examples of nominative determinism.
1. [URL="http://timesonline.typepad.com/comment/2007/01/ha_ha.html"]Theodore Hee[/URL]. Mr T. Hee was responsible for most of the early comic storylines for Walt Disney films.
2. [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaime_Sin"]Cardinal Sin[/URL]. The classic example, I think. Jamie Sin was an Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church of the Philippines. Wikipedia helpfully notes: "His name should not be confused with "cardinal sin", which is synonymous for the seven deadly sins".
3. [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_Judge"]Judge Judge[/URL]. In July of this year Sir Igor Judge was appointed Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales.
4. [URL="http://community.myfoxchicago.com/blogs/AmyFreeze/2007/10/12/AMY_FREEZE_AT_YOUR_SCHOOL"]Amy Freeze[/URL]. Fox News Chicago's Chief Meteorologist could hardly have chosen a different profession. Save, perhaps, setting pay for Government employees.
5. [URL="http://timesonline.typepad.com/comment/2007/12/mccoincidence-i.html"]Patty Turner[/URL]. The inevitable name of the wife of McDonald's CEO Frank Turner.
6. [URL="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article5315453.ece"]Governor Blagojevich[/URL]. The man responsible for introducing Americans to the British slang term "blag" which as the dictionary puts it means "To rob, steal [origin unknown]
7. [URL="http://www.healthgrades.com/directory_search/physician/profiles/dr-md-reports/Dr-Fred-Grabiner-MD-44AA0418.cfm"]Dr Fred Grabiner[/URL]. This is what the internet is for. A forum on appropriate names yields this brilliant moniker for a gynaecologist.
8.[URL="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=pubmed&uid=870138&cmd=showdetailview"] J. W. Splatt and D. Weedon[/URL]. The New Scientist campaign was spurred on by the discovery of these two authors of an article on incontinence in the British Journal of Urology (vol 49, pp 173-176, 1977).
9. [URL="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/olympics/article4551396.ece"]Usain Bolt[/URL]. Surely his surname influenced the career of the world's fastest man? The same cannot be said of Marina Stepanova. This is the ideal name for an elite hurdler. But she earned her first titles under her maiden name of [URL="http://trackandfieldnews.com/rankings/women/400hrankingbynation.pdf"]Marina Makeyeva[/URL], so her name can't have influenced her choice of career. Perhaps, though, it influenced her choice of husband.
10.[URL="http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/08/29/contest-beat-this-aptonym/"] Paige Worthy[/URL]. Nominative determism has also fascinated the Freaknonomics blog ever since they discovered this fact checker for [I]Good[/I] magazine.
Posted by Daniel Finkelstein on December 16, 2008 at 01:18 PM (The Times)

Category
Circolo di Conversazione

Wonderful!

Ben Gun was chief Constable of Cambridgeshire for many years and Tom Burn was Chief Fire Officer for Staffordshire.

I also seem to remember a P.C. Constable and the poor Tourist officer in Scotland called Ryan Ayre!!

Our local Vigile is called Storto (bent)
Ghianda
[url=http://www.olivopiegato.com]Tuscany Bed and Breakfast - L'Olivo Piegato, The Crooked Olive[/url]

In Australia, we had "Judge Hanger". And I must add that he was a great judge and I used to like to read all of his cases held at the Gold Coast Court. He was very sharp and his comments showed a great sense of humour.

I thought there was a Judge Dread. "Alexander Minto Hughes (2 May 1945 - 13 March 1998), better known as Judge Dread, was an English reggae and ska artist. He was the first white recording artist to have a reggae hit in Jamaica, and has the most banned songs of all time."

Though it wasn't related to his profession, I used to hire a car from a Sig. Mangiavacche!
I couldn't help thinking about Desperate Dan and his Cow pies every time I spoke to him.

From New Statesman

Vasectomy expert Dick Chopp has a colleague who specialises in penile prosthetics for sexual dysfunction. His name? Stephen Hardeman.

.

for several years I lived in a road with neighbours Mr Wood the lecturer in forestry and Mr Clark the judge.

My friend used to teach a boy rejoicing in the name Orson Cart, and my wife once taught a girl called Vita della Morte. I can't say what professions they later followed.

My daughter's skin specialist was called Dr. Cream!

My first wife , worked in a bank, with an account holder called Betty Swallocks,,,,,,,I swear !

I used to work with a guy 'Wayne Anker'
He reckons his parents were very naive.
Stribs

My daughter, working as a medical receptionist, had to call a patient called Hugh Janus. She found it very difficult to keep a straight face and my father was once at a conference where one of the key speakers was Mustafa Pee.

And on a seasonal note - Have a look at my thread. [url]http://www.italymag.co.uk/forums/circolo-di-conversazione/11223-cool-christmas-pudding.html[/url] The guy's name is, Mr Holley!!!

The licensee of one of the pubs local to me is called Eileen Dover. Her son is called Ben. :bigergrin:

that reminds me of my favourite work of equestrian memoirs: "10 years in the saddle" by Major Bumsore

[quote=gradese;106241]that reminds me of my favourite work of equestrian memoirs: "10 years in the saddle" by Major Bumsore[/quote]

and that old book - 'Cliff Tragedy' by Eileen Dover

[quote=gradese;106241]that reminds me of my favourite work of equestrian memoirs: "10 years in the saddle" by Major Bumsore[/quote]

And the best seller "How to get rich" by Robin Banks
Ghianda
[url=http://www.olivopiegato.com]Tuscany Bed and Breakfast - L'Olivo Piegato, The Crooked Olive[/url]

I went to school with a Susan Ridge (Sue for short) Her parents were the ugliest people on earth

[quote=scatterbrain;106250]I went to school with a Susan Ridge (Sue for short) Her parents were the ugliest people on earth[/quote]
[COLOR="White"]WWWWWW[/COLOR]:veryconfused:[COLOR="White"]WWWWWWW[/COLOR]

Farewell to Italy by Harry Verdurci
Goodbye to Berlin By Alf Vidersan
Turning your back on Tokyo by Cy Nara
The Cockneys return by C.U. Laters

Dog Training by Willie Fetch ( Just made that up LOL , sorry )

Moved to : Italiauncovered.co.uk

Moved to : Italiauncovered.co.uk

Ha - I remember where I used to work we had a client named Olive Hoyle (olive oil??)

[quote=Rina;106294]Ha - I remember where I used to work we had a client named Olive Hoyle (olive oil??)[/quote]

That sounds like my cue...

I knew of a man who worked in the 'Role' department on Hercules aircraft. He used to answer the phone:

"Sgt Bacon, Role"