A Letter From The Editor
How Much of the Silliness We See
Today is Lawsuit Baiting?
W
4
hen people name their children
something that’s, er, ahhhh,
odd, don’t you wonder what they’re
thinking? There’s intriguingly, beauti-
fully unique, and then there is the
downright weird.
I went to school with a girl named
“Allegra (as in Versace), a girl named
“Chutney,” and another girl named
“Luz,” and I thought those names
were lovely, although, truthfully, I
wouldn’t want them because almost
no one could properly pronounce
them (Luz was always in a snit
because someone had called her,
“Liz”), nor could they remember
them. I think that all three young
women became exhausted by having
to explain their names to people.
Then there is the curious case of
the woman from El Paso who named
her daughter Abcde and insists that
it’s pronounced, “Abcity.” I must give
a resounding, “Huh?” in answer to
that.
Yes, I’m referring to the woman
who was waiting to board a
Southwest Airlines flight from Santa
Ana, Calif., to El Paso, Texas, and
claimed that a Southwest employee
laughed at her 5-year-old daughter’s
unique name.
The story has spread like wildfire.
That may be because the mother
immediately called the media and
then complained to Southwest (I’m
pretty sure she wants the Southwest
employee to get fired). It might also
be because the woman named her
daughter Abcde and insists that it’s
pronounced, “Abcity.”
Abcde’s mother, Traci Redford,
went public with her story, posting a
video on social media with what she
says happened that day at the airport.
Ms. Redford claimed her daugh-
ter heard the employee laughing at
her name and asked, “Why?” She
claimed she tried to use the inci-
dent as a teaching experience for
her daughter, but was still angry and
upset that her daughter was being
“bullied” at 5-years-old.
“She said, ‘Mom, why is she
laughing at my name?’ And I said not
everyone is nice and not everyone
is going to be nice and it’s unfortu-
nate,” she told a television station in
an interview.
REALLY? Surely this is not the first
time someone laughed at the name
she gave her child? Please don’t
misunderstand — I don’t believe
it’s a good idea to make fun of the
name of a 5-year-old while she is
within earshot (out of earshot, it’s
really hard to resist), but I also don’t
believe that someone who names
their child Abcde should be shocked
and appalled when people think it’s
funny, because it truly is funny.
Sometimes you wonder, do
people do things like this for the
drama that is bound to ensue?
Wouldn’t you know that if you
named your daughter Abcde, and,
insist that it is pronounced, “Abcity,”
that someone, somewhere would
laugh? What would you do? Wait
for someone to hear your daugh-
ter’s name and laugh, then pounce
on them and sue or, better, yet, get
them fired? Would that make you feel
powerful?
There’s braggin’ rights for you.
At a cocktail party, a fellow guest
asks what you do for work. You
answer, “I’m an accountant, but in
my spare time, I visit random busi-
nesses and bring along my daugh-
ter whom I’ve named, Abcde, but
I pronounce it, ‘Abcity.’ I wait for
someone to notice her name and
laugh. Then I get them fired. So far
I’ve gotten 2,962 people unem-
ployed.”
Then, you just wait for your fellow
guests to, “Oooohhh” and “Ahhhhh”
in wonder.
Why do people do some of the
doggone-silly things that they do?
My theory is that in our politically
correct vacuum, they count on never
having to face consequences of their
silliness so they just see how far they
can lean toward utter insanity with-
out anyone calling them out on it. I
believe that a lot of them think, “I’m
free. I can exercise my freedom and if
anyone laughs at my craziness — I’ll
get them fired.” Gives them a feeling
of power that is sorely lacking in all
other areas of their lives.
Celebrities love to give their chil-
dren silly names. Rob Morrow, for
example, named his daughter “Tu.”
That’s right. Her name is Tu Morrow.
How drunk was he? One would hope
that the adorable little girl that bears
this silly name is crazy about the
theme song from “Annie,” because
she’ll be hearing it over and over for
the rest of her life.
Jermaine Jackson’s son is named,
“Jermajesty.” Enough said.
Still, Chris Martin and Gwyneth
Paltrow named their daughter
“Apple.” If you’re a ka-gillionaire,
jetting back and forth between
London, New York and Beverly Hills,
having a goofy name can be almost
bearable, but being a middle-class
girl living in El Paso named Abcde
still seems like a harsher lot.
Even when your name is almost
normal, someone, usually a class-
mate, will find a way to make fun of
you. I’ve heard, “Marsha, Marsha,
Marsha,” so much over the last years
of my life that I’m almost beginning
to like it.
I once watched an interview
with actress Barbara Hershey, star of
“Beaches” and “Black Swan.” In the
height of the hippy era, she had a son
with fellow actor David Carradine
that she named “Free.”
She said in the interview that,
at the age of 9, her son asked her,
“Mom, you named me Free. Nobody
else in school is named ‘Free.’ What
does ‘Free’ mean?” Without skipping
a beat, Hershey said, “It means that
you are Free to change your name to
whatever you want.”
He changed his name to Tom.
Thanks for reading,
Marsha, Marsha, Marsha Brown