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Help[Opinions] Re: Primrose
in reply to a message by Lily
Fullily enough, I dislike Violet and Lily for much the same reasons as Primrose!
In all those cases, the image of the flower is very powerful and very specific. All shy, unassuming, sweetly transient ... nothing bad in there, but if I look around all the women, girls and little babies I know, not many of them at all fit those criteria. So there's likiely to be a built-in clash of expectations. Violet the auctioneer? Lily the Olympic field athlete? Primrose the rapper? In all those cases, the contrast could be piquant ... but I find it too much of a stretch. Call me 'hidebound by convention'!
My grandmother remembered the first generation of flower names, and told me that in her experience, women named Violet tended to be stout, brash, flat-footed and wore corsets that creaked alarmingly when their bulk shifted! Perhaps they were reacting against the stereotype?
I've never met a Primrose. In the UK, most people would be likely to connect it with the wife of Harold Shipman, the doctor who, about 10 years ago, was convicted of having murdered hundreds (yes, really) of his elderly patients; he stole their jewellery and gave it to Primrose, who wore it without asking any awkward questions. Not a nice association.
In all those cases, the image of the flower is very powerful and very specific. All shy, unassuming, sweetly transient ... nothing bad in there, but if I look around all the women, girls and little babies I know, not many of them at all fit those criteria. So there's likiely to be a built-in clash of expectations. Violet the auctioneer? Lily the Olympic field athlete? Primrose the rapper? In all those cases, the contrast could be piquant ... but I find it too much of a stretch. Call me 'hidebound by convention'!
My grandmother remembered the first generation of flower names, and told me that in her experience, women named Violet tended to be stout, brash, flat-footed and wore corsets that creaked alarmingly when their bulk shifted! Perhaps they were reacting against the stereotype?
I've never met a Primrose. In the UK, most people would be likely to connect it with the wife of Harold Shipman, the doctor who, about 10 years ago, was convicted of having murdered hundreds (yes, really) of his elderly patients; he stole their jewellery and gave it to Primrose, who wore it without asking any awkward questions. Not a nice association.
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