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Help[Opinions] Re: Harriet
in reply to a message by pike
Is anyone who refers to names by their genders as if they were people actually fully comfortable doing it? Or are you all just reaching out and toying with something you feel like you ought to like? Because I want to like the practice, but instead can find nothing in my heart but repulsion for it.
Just wondering. Maybe it's just me. Anyway I don't like Harriet. Something else I'm supposed to like, but simply can't stomach - and I wonder if I'd ask the same question about Harriet as I did the personifying of names. lol Does anyone actually think this name is really cute? Or does it just work so well in theory that they heartlessly employ the practice? Harriet, I suppose, I can understand liking. It's sharp, it's smirking a little, it's wearing nice clothes. (Here I am, personifying! - but without gender, so not really). It's absolutely unlike all of the disgusting names that are popular now. It doesn't need anything from them, doesn't need anyone to like it, it's pretty in its own important way. Hattie I cannot believe in. There is no way anyone could actually like this name. Is there? It's like cardboard. No, not cardboard: parched, flavorless cornbread. That's Hattie. Does anyone actually like that? Yes, it ought to be cute, but it's not. It's not nameist to not like Hattie. Nameism isn't a thing. We're allowed to dislike names. Let's all come together and comfort each other about our inability to enjoy this once perfectly good name, and move forward.
But I see that you've done that already. Good for you. The result is that you just have good taste, I guess. :P
You also don't need anyone to inanely point out that Harriet and Amy have different usage patterns. Once this nearsighted suspicion of large shapes is overcome, the world of naming gets much more interesting, indeed acquires new dimensions. Harriet reclaims Amy, hoisting it back to the place of sophistication it had toppled from.
I feel like I'm writing If Adorno Were A Namenerd right now. Actually that sounds like the most insanely fun project I can think of.
Just wondering. Maybe it's just me. Anyway I don't like Harriet. Something else I'm supposed to like, but simply can't stomach - and I wonder if I'd ask the same question about Harriet as I did the personifying of names. lol Does anyone actually think this name is really cute? Or does it just work so well in theory that they heartlessly employ the practice? Harriet, I suppose, I can understand liking. It's sharp, it's smirking a little, it's wearing nice clothes. (Here I am, personifying! - but without gender, so not really). It's absolutely unlike all of the disgusting names that are popular now. It doesn't need anything from them, doesn't need anyone to like it, it's pretty in its own important way. Hattie I cannot believe in. There is no way anyone could actually like this name. Is there? It's like cardboard. No, not cardboard: parched, flavorless cornbread. That's Hattie. Does anyone actually like that? Yes, it ought to be cute, but it's not. It's not nameist to not like Hattie. Nameism isn't a thing. We're allowed to dislike names. Let's all come together and comfort each other about our inability to enjoy this once perfectly good name, and move forward.
But I see that you've done that already. Good for you. The result is that you just have good taste, I guess. :P
You also don't need anyone to inanely point out that Harriet and Amy have different usage patterns. Once this nearsighted suspicion of large shapes is overcome, the world of naming gets much more interesting, indeed acquires new dimensions. Harriet reclaims Amy, hoisting it back to the place of sophistication it had toppled from.
I feel like I'm writing If Adorno Were A Namenerd right now. Actually that sounds like the most insanely fun project I can think of.
This message was edited 1/27/2013, 11:50 PM
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Replies
Ha! I swear I made a post about this practice. I hate it too!
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Do you mean like using the pronoun "she" or like the way we sometimes come up with like, little characters for the name? Like saying "oh I could see her wearing this colour and living here"? I know I do that a lot.
I watch this show about wedding dresses and sometimes they refer to the dresses as "she" and it totally grosses me OUT so I know what you're saying here I think.
I like Hattie a lot more than Harriet actually? And would probably use it unapologetically but would have to fight for it with most people who think it is stupid. Hattie is really saucy and I like the energy of the name more; Harriet is pretty snobby and uptight, I mean, comparatively, to other names?
I FEEL REALLY WEIRD LIKE YOU ARE DISGUSTED WITH US ALL AND LIKE I NEED TO DEFEND MYSELF I DON'T KNOW AAAUUUGHH
I watch this show about wedding dresses and sometimes they refer to the dresses as "she" and it totally grosses me OUT so I know what you're saying here I think.
I like Hattie a lot more than Harriet actually? And would probably use it unapologetically but would have to fight for it with most people who think it is stupid. Hattie is really saucy and I like the energy of the name more; Harriet is pretty snobby and uptight, I mean, comparatively, to other names?
I FEEL REALLY WEIRD LIKE YOU ARE DISGUSTED WITH US ALL AND LIKE I NEED TO DEFEND MYSELF I DON'T KNOW AAAUUUGHH
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I know it sounded weirdly accusatory! Unfortunately that's how my mind works. I level the same amount of accusatoriness towards myself - that's why it comes out, I think, particularly on the internet. I need to learn to temper it.
I think part of it was because I was trying to inhabit a pro-Harriet mindset, though - but in a way that would work in harmony with my anti-Hattiness. Also, I luxuriate in a nice barbed rebuttal to a nice barbed provocation. So, thanks. lolol
I think part of it was because I was trying to inhabit a pro-Harriet mindset, though - but in a way that would work in harmony with my anti-Hattiness. Also, I luxuriate in a nice barbed rebuttal to a nice barbed provocation. So, thanks. lolol
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for whatever it's worth...
While I understand what Emma says about there being a certain expectation among "namists" to like certain names, like Harriet, just because they are classic and not used much and whatnot...
I don't have any problem saying that I don't like the name, and I don't really feel the pressure to like the name myself. Then again, I don't really consider myself a namist or a name-nerd.
While I understand what Emma says about there being a certain expectation among "namists" to like certain names, like Harriet, just because they are classic and not used much and whatnot...
I don't have any problem saying that I don't like the name, and I don't really feel the pressure to like the name myself. Then again, I don't really consider myself a namist or a name-nerd.
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Live free or die, brother. *solemn nod*
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LOL...why are you repulsed by it?
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I DUNNO! It seems gross! I was hoping it was a universal feeling so I wouldn't have to try to articulate it.
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Well, Kinga put it best when she said she makes up characters to go with names. I do that a lot too, so sometimes I am going to refer to Harriet or Matilda as "she". I guess I never really thought about it before. :P
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Maybe everyone needs a new pillow?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFKmzR5Aejg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFKmzR5Aejg
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Ha! I love "Portlandia". :)
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lol....you're something else.
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