| Author | Message | ||
     shoshannah Citizen Username: Shoshannah Post Number: 721 Registered: 7-2002 |
Speaking of middle initials . . . I have always wondered about the byline Jennifer 8. Lee. The first time I saw it I thought it was -- horrors! -- a copyediting mistake. But now I see it almost every day. Anyone know the meaning of a number for a middle initial? | ||
| Dave Moderator Username: Dave Post Number: 5190 Registered: 4-1998  |
All I know is 8 is considered a lucky number in most Asian nations. | ||
| Joan Supporter Username: Joancrystal Post Number: 4896 Registered: 5-2001 |
Could it be some form of ordinal? Charlie Chan's frequent reference to number 1 son, number 2 son, etc. comes to mind. | ||
| Brett Citizen Username: Bmalibashksa Post Number: 1436 Registered: 7-2003 |
Jennifer 8. Lee, born March 15, 1976 in New York City, is a New York Times reporter for the Circuits section. She spells her middle name "8." on paper, but on her driver's license it is spelled as a much less dramatic "Eight". Many Chinese and Japanese names contain numbers written in characters. Lee's parents, who are from Taiwan, added the number eight (the Chinese character ӻ) to Lee's name while she was a teenager. Eight is a Chinese symbol of prosperity and good luck. Lee graduated from Harvard University. She interned at The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, Newsday and The New York Times while working on her applied mathematics and economics degree. | ||
| Carrie Avery Citizen Username: Carrie33 Post Number: 82 Registered: 1-2005  |
Okay , but this America, use English,make an effort to fit it, be real, work for a living, be attentive, contribute, and stop bringing over every little foreign idea, like numbers for words, and symbols for letters,.. After a while we'll start to forget who the heck we are with all this foreign nonsense. | ||
| Earlster Supporter Username: Earlster Post Number: 947 Registered: 8-2003  |
And I thought we all (well most) have foreign roots. Isn't that what makes this such a great and diverse country. BTW.
you might want to improve on your 'english' writing skills a little. | ||
| LibraryLady(ncjanow) Supporter Username: Librarylady Post Number: 2172 Registered: 5-2001  |
Carrie, guess you'd object to Harry S Truman not using a dot after his middle name (which is just S) | ||
| Bobkat Supporter Username: Bobk Post Number: 7511 Registered: 5-2001 |
Given Ms. Lee's educational credeitionals and resume, not to mention a byline at the Times, the 8 must have worked.  | ||
| Carrie Avery Citizen Username: Carrie33 Post Number: 83 Registered: 1-2005 |
You all must excuse me if I sounded a bit harsh, ( hormones and all, and expecting, and being cranky) I do think, however, that no matter what credentials a person has, it is a good idea to find a way to keep America thinking as a whole. We are one country with many diverse people, who want to stand together as One Nation. To do this, I believe, it is important to remember what that means. In some ways, it might mean differant things to differant people, and this is our problem as a country. We must have a sense of what we ought to do as -one group- that makes us stand out and stand proud as people from the USA. My grammer isn't perfect, but I was born here,my parents were born here, but not my grandparents. This has nothing to do with what we ought to do to maintain our identity as a country. | ||
| greenetree Supporter Username: Greenetree Post Number: 3829 Registered: 5-2001  |
Carrie -which Native American tribe do you hail from? | ||
| Tom Reingold Supporter Username: Noglider Post Number: 5390 Registered: 1-2003  |
I always thought she inserted that "middle initial" to sound like a bona fide computer geek or something like that. Now I'm actually disappointed. | ||
| Carrie Avery Citizen Username: Carrie33 Post Number: 84 Registered: 1-2005 |
Suppose I was Native American, would you think what you just said was an insult or compliment? | ||
| Tom Reingold Supporter Username: Noglider Post Number: 5391 Registered: 1-2003 |
So Carrie, do you suggest naming our kids from a list of standard names, leaving out our cultural heritages? If so, then what American heritage should we draw from? Maybe we should choose the majority ethnicity of the country in, say 1850. Or how about 1930. Um, I'm lost. Will this apply to last names, too? | ||
| Carrie Avery Citizen Username: Carrie33 Post Number: 85 Registered: 1-2005 |
Haven't we always named our children from standard names? My inquiry was: what is with the "numbers" after a name? Soon we will be calling our children "seven", like George Constanza wants to name his first born. | ||
| Earlster Supporter Username: Earlster Post Number: 949 Registered: 8-2003 |
agreed. But does that mean that we have to use the smallest common denominator, or can we take advantage of the great cultural heritage of all peoples included in this nation? I agree that we should all try to use the english language as good as we can, but keeping with some traditions of our heritage IMHO is a great treasure that is so very rare on this planet. | ||
| Tom Reingold Supporter Username: Noglider Post Number: 5392 Registered: 1-2003 |
No, we haven't always named our children from standard names. That's why things change. My father was a son of immigrants. They had help filling out the birth certificate since they didn't speak English well and my father was born at home. They wanted to name him Herschel, but the authorities told them to use a nice American name. So my grandparents named him Harry. Would you like that to happen to you? If I leave alone the question of whether your suggestion is a good idea, there's the very sticky question: Who should have the authority for blessing our kids' names? | ||
| Joan Supporter Username: Joancrystal Post Number: 4902 Registered: 5-2001 |
Names with numbers are an American tradition amongst members of some of our earliest immigrant families. How many people do you know who have 3rd, 4th, or even 5th after their name to distinguish them from parents and other ancestors of the same name? | ||
| Carrie Avery Citizen Username: Carrie33 Post Number: 86 Registered: 1-2005 |
Harry is a standard name used in the USA. I dont understand why it is necessary to go back in time and use names that are one: difficult to pronounce, difficult to remember, difficult to spell, or difficult to understand. What exactly is the point here? If you live in America use an American name. If you don't live in America use what ever name you want. Just one persons opinion. | ||
| Dave Moderator Username: Dave Post Number: 5196 Registered: 4-1998 |
In fact, Carrie is blaming the writer for anglicizing her name. 8 is English (or at least universal/western). If she were not trying to "fit in" she would have left it B. for "Ba" (Chinese for 8). | ||
| Carrie Avery Citizen Username: Carrie33 Post Number: 87 Registered: 1-2005 |
Now that's just too cute, Dave. It would read: "Jennifer B. Lee." Tell me, who would question that? |
