Sunday, December 18, 2011

This song has no title (or, how this blog came by its name)


Apparently when you're in the army you nickname everything. (At least, this is as I understand it from both M*A*S*H and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay.) My sister and I have a habit of doing this too, also with everything. My electric fan is named Maxine, the fan before her was called Max. My lamp is called Karen, my laptop called Ernest and my (current) toothbrush called Harold. And the BBQ is called Laurie (after St Laurence on a grid-iron. You can tell we're Catholics....). 


And so it came to pass that my sister and I felt compelled to nickname my thesis. Strong contenders included Guillermo, Rudi, Morris and Rico. But I wanted something less Spanish and more Italian, given the subject matter of my research.*

So the sister, in a stroke of genius, decides we should call it Frankie. Short for Frankenstein, as it will be '[my] little monster for the next year'.

Nicely played, Clarence.** This is why I keep her around.

And that is how the thesis, and this blog, came by their name. 

P.S. - You need to see this video immediately. I laughed until I cried. Happy Christmas!



*I'm writing a thesis in Italian history. I will be telling a little more as I go along. 

**My sister's nickname. You really didn't think she was the one thing that wouldn't be nicknamed, did you?


2 comments:

  1. I LOVE naming things. My car is Constance Eclair. My phone is Pahoney Jackson. And my husband is, simply, "Butter."

    I hope you don't stop writing after Frankie is grown and moved out of the house, though. Let's hope you can find it in your heart to write Mathilda or Hubert next.

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  2. You brush your teeth with Harold? Ok :)

    Gosh, I feel like I should give my thesis a name now! I do sometimes refer to it as "the war" (as in.. "we don't talk about the war") but perhaps a more endearing name might be better.

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