What's in a Name

March 29, 2009

Ever noticed how certain phrases attach themselves to people in the news, and then become so commonplace it’s as if the person has a new first name? I realized this after the L.A. riots of 1992, in which a Caucasian trucker made a wrong turn, and got badly beaten up. Forever after, he was “white trucker” Reginald Denny.

A couple of years later, during the whole O.J. Simpson thing, the victims were described as his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and “her friend” Ronald Goldman. By the way, up until then, I had always thought it was redundant to describe a car chase as “high speed.” The Simpson case started with a “low speed” car chase. Who knew there was such a thing?

Sometimes, though, those faux first names fail to evoke the right person. These days, if you say “disgraced former governor,” you’ve got to specify which one.

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Comments (1)

• 2009-06-10 10:10:12 | Carl Heintze  - A Testimonal
  Last year Roberta read in manuscript my recently published book of short stories "All They Had, " remebrances of World War II with an eye to glaring errors, style, grammar, and general literary content and pointed out several glaring errors and omissions for which I will be eternally grateful. Her eye is sharp and her knowledge of language impressive. But then she can also write and write well herself so it is small wonder. But it is a wonder. I recommend and commend her to all.
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