I would like to share with you a recent exam-room experience with a newly-adopted cat who came in for a new-cat exam & vaccines. The cat was named Dionysus.
Me: (entering exam room) Good morning! So tell me about Dionysus - I'm curious how he came by his name. Does he throw wild house parties every weekend?
Client: um - no? why would you think that? He got his name because at the shelter, his name was just "D" and I didn't think that was a big enough name for him because you know he's a big cat, so I found the name Dionysus on a list of good cat names.
Me: oh. Well I was just joking because as you know Dionysus is the god of wine, ecstasy, and ritual madness and orgies, so, um, I was just trying to be funny.
Client: (looking at me very suspiciously) I don't want to be rude but what religion are you?
Now, I could pretend that I gracefully wrapped up that conversation somehow, but that would be a lie. In actual fact, I think I stammered "um - really?" and my tech saved the day by starting to laugh loudly and say "Oh, Dr. VBB you are so hilarious, I just love working your exam room, I never know what's coming next, oh Ms. Client, isn't Dr. VBB such a card? hahahahahahaha," and then I started asking the usual questions about coughing, sneezing, vomiting, etc and just kind of let the whole previous episode slip silently into the past.
*sigh*
My dog's name is Loki, because when we adopted him, we were informed that a lot of people had been put off by him being mouthy. People took this as him being aggressive, so no one wanted him. So, we named him this because of him "tricking" people into thinking he's mean and aggressive when he's really just a big sweetie who would probably roll over for belly scratches from a burglar. Very rarely do people ask about his name origin.
ReplyDeleteOn one occasion, though, as I was walking Loki, I was greeted by an elderly woman coming down the street in her scooter. She was new to the neighborhood and wanted to get to know people in the area. I talked with her for a bit, and she asked for Loki's name. I gave it to her, and she looked a little confused by his odd name. She asked about his name origin, and I explained he was named after the trickster god from Norse mythology. She gave me a look of extreme disapproval and said, "Oh. Well. I don't know if I like that," before driving away without another word.
I ran into someone who named their dog Zeus. When I asked about the name, usually with situations like that I ask about other animals, such as 'Have a Hera?', or etc, they said that their husband named the dog Zeus after the Greek God of War... I awkwardly had to pause, and then told them that Ares was the name that the husband wanted.
ReplyDeleteMany times I've had people either horribly mispell a historical/cultural name, and I have to figure out a kind way to ask if they meant to spell it the way it is on the form? Often, I'll say something along the lines of, "Oh, you named him after ! Do you want to spell it classically, or ?"
But yes, as the original poster said, I encounter plenty of clients who have no idea what they named their pet.
Damn Pagans. You people are what's wrong with 'Merica these days.
ReplyDeleteI had two budgies named Zeus and Athena. Very big names for little birds. Neither of them lived up to their namesakes.
ReplyDeleteI named our visiting sparrow 'Eris' because she likes to make a mess and stir up our dogs. She recently brought a young female sparrow to visit, which I named 'Kali' after the goddess of destruction and rebirth, because she's the first new sparrow we've had in years. Two males have followed them, but I haven't watched them enough to name them.
ReplyDeleteWe also named one of our dogs after Denny Crane (Boston Legal), because he's big, goofy, sleeps a lot and does some spectacularly stupid things.
We have one client who named their cat "Golashes". You know, the rain boots.
ReplyDeleteDogs called Rambo are always Bull Terriers varietals and Rottweillers. I'm not sure how this reflects on Sylvester Stallone.
ReplyDeleteNot always - I had a 4 pound Yorkshire Terrier named Rambo today.
Deletethat actually makes more sense.....
DeleteYou crazy heathen, you. You know we don't talk about those HELLenistic cults, missy.
ReplyDeleteI'm super-curious to know what religions you could have mentioned to get you out of the dog-house, and which religions that would dig the hole even further.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to alienate everyone totally, my stock answer to that question is "Neo-Lutheran Born-Again Pagan Wiccan Shamanist". In over ten years, no one has ever said anything but "oh". (But they have been known to back away..... quickly). Helps if you have a beaded rattle on you.
DeleteI went through quite a few deity names when I had pet ratties. Strangely, it never came up in conversation.
ReplyDeleteI have 2 budgies. 1 is named Chartreuse for his coloring and he's quite majestic. The other is Polytechnos after Aëdon's psychotic husband. Needless to say, he's overly dominant, quite a loud mouth and temperamental. His pagan name fits perfectly.
ReplyDeleteOur dogs all get classical names, so we've had a Penelope (that was the name she was given by her foster family when she was born, and we just continued the tradition), a Loki, an Isis, a Dante, a Dagda, a Vayu and an Artemis. :-)
ReplyDeleteOberon was a foundling, and we let her pick her own name. After two hours of going through every literary, fairy tale, and mythological name we could think of, we started on Shakespeare. Oberon was the name to which she looked up and responded, so despite the gender disparity, Oberon she has been ever since. I'm not sure how the king of the fairies would view it, but some sources say that Oberon was a common name for fairy familiars in 15th and 16th century England. So I suppose she was just following tradition. :D
ReplyDeleteMy veterinarian's staff Googled my cat's name. When we named him "Gilgamesh" we were thinking of devotion, courage, and a tendency to straddle the fence between the wild and the civilized. The Sumerian king's tyrannical "first night's rights" apparently stood out more to the veterinary staff, judging from how much teasing he got!
ReplyDeleteMy veterinarian's staff Googled my cat's name. When we named him "Gilgamesh" we were thinking of devotion, courage, and a tendency to straddle the fence between the wild and the civilized. The Sumerian king's tyrannical "first night's rights" apparently stood out more to the veterinary staff, judging from how much teasing he got!
ReplyDelete