Hot Tempers and Odd Names

A Stodghill Says So blog:
I once encountered a sergeant named Sargent so he was Sergeant Sargent. Had his last name been Major he might have been Sergeant Major Major. If his first name had been Major, and some people do have that name, he could have been Private Major Sargent.
My reporter friend Floyd Creech and I used to spend a lot of time together. Our desks were only a few feet apart, we often ate lunch together and at times we worked together on an assignment. Floyd was a retired Navy fighter pilot and the only man I have known who survived a mid-air collision over the Pacific.
I have written several times about Floyd and his buddy without a first or middle name, just the initials R.B. In the military, those in his position had to put (only) after their initial. Harry S Truman (no period after the S) would have been Harry S (only) Truman.
I don't recall R.B.'s last name so let's say it was Jones. He signed his name properly with a couple of onlys added in parenthesis. Some clerk messed up, as clerks often do both in and out of the military, so when he was ready to sign the payroll and be handed his money he discovered he was listed as Ronly Bonly Jones.
Signing his name that way would likely have meant being stuck with it for his entire military career. Not signing it meant he wouldn't be paid. He decided being broke was better than forever being known as Ronly Bonly. However, once having told others about the error I'm sure he was often called that unless he was with an unusual group of men.
Floyd Creech had a raging temper that often was unleashed on those around him. One day after I had showed him a next-day story revealing a crooked act by an office holder he rolled his chair over close to my desk and warned me about not caving in and changing the story if pressured. Before I could say I had no intention of doing that, my phone rang. I said something like, "Sure, I'll be glad to. I'll make the change."
When I hung up, Floyd called me every derogatory name known to man. I just smiled until he finally ran out of steam, then said, "That was Warren Collier. He's not feeling well and asked if I could cover the Bearcats' football game up in Marion tonight. I told him I'd change the assignment sheet."
Floyd said, Oh," and rolled his chair back to his desk.

Wild stuff!

Malcolm

Ronly Bonly! Very, very funny! Made me laugh out loud!

There is a spa/resort outside of SA where I like to go sometimes, called Guadalupe River Ranch. The lodge once belonged to Olivia de Havilland, but that's not why I'm posting. At one point, they somehow managed to change my mailing list name from Ann L Joiner to Anal Joiner.

Hang onto that name, Ann, and you would become world famous.

An Army brat classmate of mine in highschool had a father who was a Major General. What did he name his son?

Yep, Major General

Crazy stuff with names. Parents didn't give much thought to what could be made out of a name. An unusual name would be used by kids to taunt or create a twist of it.

A USAF woman Bird Colonel's name in our organization was Francis I. Lay. You can imagine what we did with that name.

There was an inmate in the Seattle jail, an American Indian, whose real name was General Pancake. Good thing he never got drafted.

I knew a kid in junior high named Allan Raper. Better yet, his brother was named Randy.

Good grief. One must wonder if the parents did that to their children on purpose. How terribly cruel if they did, but how could they not know? My mother used to talk about a Nutt family she grew up with. The parents named their daughter and son Hazel and Philbert, respectively.

A friend of mine has a first name Horst and a last name Able. Of course we called him horse stable.

I had a friend named Penny Nickel.
Really.
I knew her when I lived in Texas.

When I first met her, I thought, perhaps, her name was Penelope Nichol or something.

Nope. Her mom and dad named her Penny Nickel. And at home they nicknamed her "Six Cents".

Good thing the girl had a sense of humor. She enjoyed the joke behind her name.

When we had twins, many many years ago, we thought it would be cute to name them Don and Donna. It was nothing but confusion, and continues.

My son went to the dentist and there was some problem with insurance. My son's insurance wouldn't pay saying he had other insurance. Well, it was his sister's, same birthday, and she had to make a lot of calls to get it straightened out.

My daughter worked in an autopsy department at the Vet Hospital and the doctor was Dr. Boodworth.

Carol

I went to school with a guy named Friendly Battle

And, my husbands father, in the army years ago, was on base with Lee Majors' brother (yep, Lee Majors from 6 million dollar man). The brother was, you guessed it, Major Majors.

Erica,

I hate to burst a bubble, but I ws a Lee Majors fan as far back as The Big Valley. His real name is Harvey Lee Yeary, and he never had a brother named Major. There is a real name coincidence that your father-in-law may be remembering. The Air Force pilot who flew the mock-up shuttle for The Six-Million Dollar Man was named Lee Minor.

Maybe the Major Majors name came from the book and film, Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, which had a character named Major Major Major, who was automatically promoted to the rank of Major because of a glitch caused by his name, so that he was Major Major Major Major.

BTW, I caught Lee Majors on a commercial for a new hearing aid called the Bionic Ear. Considering his age, he looks darned good.

Ann

Carol,

My full given name is Martha Ann. My ex remarried, to a Martha E. I once was charged with her medical bills. I presented Bill with the bill (pun intended) and suggested he keep his Martha's straight.

Ann

My youngest daughter was dating a man named Jeff Birckl. At the time her sister was married to Jeff Brickl. We told our youngest daughter that she definitely could not marry Jeff Birckl.

Carol

Hey Carol!

I also remember having a crush on Lee Majors in The Big Valley ...didn't know if anyone else would remember. The story was told to me by my husband (via his Dad), though I didn't mean that Lee's brother name was Major...he was a Major in the Army, hence Major Majors. Hubby never did tell me what the guys actual first name was. Just though it was kind of funny and Dicks intro reminded me of that story.

Sorry, that should have been directed to Ann (read Carols name as I was posting). But "Hello" to you both! :-)

So what have you got against Jeff Birckl, Carol? Or both of them, whatever the case may be.

One one little dusty road in Pine Mountain Valley where I grew up, were three mailboxes side-by-side...

Turnipseed, Rainwater and Peabuckle

Sounds like a law firm...

My brother and my ex are both named Bill. My son is named David. At one time, when my daughters were in college, Susan was dating a David McCrory. She was talking to her dad over the phone and mentioned that David (her date) was taking her to the airport. Her dad asked what David (her brother) was doing in Austin. A day or so later, Lynn called home to say she had met this really cute guy named Bill Keener. I quickly said, "Forget it!" A few years later, David emailed me to tell me about his new girlfriend (now his wife). He said her name was Lynann Elizabeth (Susan's middle name is Elizabeth. I didn't tell him to forget it, but did say that it was either a match made in Heaven, or he should run like h**l.

And, oh, David's father-in-law is named Bill.

I get what Carol is talking about.

Ann

Some people named their child--Adolf Hitler Campbell.

They must have wanted their child ostracized from everything.

That is abusive parenting in my estimation.

I read about that couple, Alice. People can be pretty ignorant! But to saddle a kid with that name is pure abuse!