Friday, March 13, 2009

From Russell the Blogger

Just a random observation: lately I've grown very fond of referring to people in conversations as "[First name] the [Occupation]".  I started doing it ironically when Joe the Plumber was a running political joke.  But now I'm starting to like it. It's useful shorthand for referencing someone who is not known to the audience; it establishes both their name and function.  That way I almost never need to answer followup questions about who I'm talking about and why.

Thus, people at work are "Susanne the Analyst," "Gary the Boss," "Yolanda the Carpooler," etc.  Then I've got Elliott the Contractor, Dan the Financial Adviser, Calvin the Friend of Ben, and so on.

By the way, be sure to check out my recent post about Ayn the Author.  ;)

3 comments:

  1. May I suggest you take a listen to Matt the Electrician, playing at the Saxon pub every week.

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  2. Anonymous3:01 AM

    And it works great for those who have occupation and character in common, such as "Ken the lying asshole" or or "Ben the creationist fucktard"

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  3. In Wales it's traditional, and still common practice for people to be referred to in this manner.

    I'm told their most famous export, Tom Jones, is known as both "Jones the Voice" and "Jones the Trousers."

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