# Mr. Loaf: a teachable moment **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 22, 2022, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-loaf-a-teachable-moment/958212 "2022-01-22T05:04:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![phs3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8491ac/32.png) [@phs3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phs3)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2022, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-loaf-a-teachable-moment/958212/41 "2022-01-24T06:40:02Z")
Watching Spanish TV, my sister saw a reference to Sr. Loaf. ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2022, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-loaf-a-teachable-moment/958212/42 "2022-01-24T17:48:13Z")
> [@phs3](#): > > Although the Indians who don’t have first names might have fixed that fetish by now in some companies. The Indians you refer to, have first names but no last names or family name. About 20 years back, when I went to college in the US - such people were renamed as FNU (First Name Unknown) by the INS / Social Security Office. So a guy, from India, having an only name as Swami - will be renamed as FNU Swami. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2022, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-loaf-a-teachable-moment/958212/43 "2022-01-24T18:37:03Z")
This reminds me of a line from The Wire: I put the b in subtle. ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2022, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-loaf-a-teachable-moment/958212/44 "2022-01-24T19:20:40Z")
The name of the band is [Talking Heads](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Name_of_This_Band_Is_Talking_Heads#:~:text=The%20title%20of%20the%20album%20is%20a%20reference%20both%20to%20the%20group%27s%20preference%20for%20having%20no%20expressed%20definite%20article%20within%20the%20band%20name%20(as%20opposed%20to%20%22The%20Talking%20Heads%22)%20and%20to%20David%20Byrne%27s%20minimalist%20introductions%20to%20songs.). ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2022, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-loaf-a-teachable-moment/958212/45 "2022-01-25T22:02:54Z")
> [@mordecaiB](#): > > Aha! I can claim credit if the Times didn’t do it until 2007. I was a full 20 years ahead of them. Point for me! My friends and I jocularly referred to him as “Mr. Loaf” back in the late 80s, as well. I’m figuring we’re about the 50,000th music fans who came about that joke. (FWIW, Google Books shows me a reference to “Mr. Loaf” as far back as 1979 without scanning beyond the first few hits. While I can’t read the full excerpt, I can see the snippet it shows me also shows a review for the Kinks Low Budget, which fits the 1979 timeline.) ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-loaf-a-teachable-moment/958212/46 "2022-01-26T03:55:58Z")
NY Times obit of Miss (Candy) Barr, _née_ Juanita Dale Slusher: [link](https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/06/world/americas/obituary-candy-barr-exotic-dancer-and-friend-of-jack-ruby.html) ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2022, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-loaf-a-teachable-moment/958212/47 "2022-01-26T04:38:08Z")
It’s wookiee, not wookie. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2022, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-loaf-a-teachable-moment/958212/48 "2022-01-27T02:36:07Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > The computer only accepts 3 names? What about the many people who have only 1 name, or have 5 names? A friend of mine says her younger sister ran into this problem while trying to get her license, so she wrote in the middle name field that she has no middle name. The DMV then produced a license that gave her name as Sarah Has No Middle Name Benson… ---
**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2022, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-loaf-a-teachable-moment/958212/49 "2022-01-27T05:29:55Z")
Another name that probably gets goobered up more than most: Siouxsie Sioux. If you don’t know who that is, don’t mess with it. (She’s an English woman who took that name before cultural appropriation was thought to be uncool.) ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2022, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-loaf-a-teachable-moment/958212/50 "2022-01-27T06:23:17Z")
> [@Briny\_Deep](#): > > I’ve heard tales of people who went through their whole military career as “Carol NMI Cairo” (for example), because they have no middle initial yet the personnel database will not accept that. I do wonder if such things have changed. My U.S. passport has First name and Last name. There’s no field for a middle name. So my first name is my original first name, my original middle name and my original last name. And my last name is my current last name, which I picked up when I got married. First name: First Middle Maiden Last name: Married > [@phs3](#): > > Fortunately she’s in a field where she’ll never work for a large corporation–I can only imagine the hassles trying to get her network and email set up, with IT saying “need full name”. Seems to work fine at my company. The main point is the short name. People with short last names get some strange combinations with their first names, and then some get numbers as well. ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2022, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-loaf-a-teachable-moment/958212/51 "2022-01-27T19:53:08Z")
> [@Hatchie](#): > > why did we in the Anglophone world attach a “the” to it in the past Because its name was “the Ukraine.” Why do we attach “the” to “Philippines”? Because that’s its name. My understanding at the time it happened was that the “the” was dropped because subordinate areas get articles but independent nations don’t. My friends in the Netherlands thought that was nuts, and I’m guessing that Filipinos did, too. And as **Hatchie** pointed out, Ukrainians themselves didn’t change anything because Ukrainian doesn’t have articles. For all these reasons (plus orneriness), I still call it “the Ukraine.” No one has ever corrected me. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2022, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-loaf-a-teachable-moment/958212/52 "2022-01-27T20:29:27Z")
> [@Hatchie](#): > > Meat Loaf. Two separate words, both capitalized. Not “Meatloaf”. While we’re on the subject, the big airline headquartered in Atlanta spells the name of their company “Delta Air Lines”. Not “Airlines”. It is kind of an old fashioned way of spelling it, but I think it’s kind of cool that they still spell it that way. IIRC Eastern used the old timey two word spelling when they were in business, too. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2022, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-loaf-a-teachable-moment/958212/53 "2022-01-27T20:32:35Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > I have a former coworker who legally changed his name to Megazone, just one name, no first name. Not Mr Zone, he was (and still is) Mr Megazone. Is he a supervillain? ---
**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2022, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-loaf-a-teachable-moment/958212/54 "2022-01-27T21:34:41Z")
> [@Cayuga](#): > > I still call it “the Ukraine.” No one has ever corrected me. Wrong. I now correct you. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2022, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-loaf-a-teachable-moment/958212/55 "2022-01-27T21:58:50Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > Is he a supervillain? No, but he doesn’t use enough comments in his code. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2022, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-loaf-a-teachable-moment/958212/56 "2022-01-28T13:01:47Z")
> [@Cayuga](#): > > Because its name was “the Ukraine.” That’s clearly untrue because > [@](#): > > Ukrainians themselves didn’t change anything because Ukrainian doesn’t have articles. It’s also clear you have been corrected, as you couldn’t assert you were being ornery unless you had been informed at some point that “the Ukraine” was wrong. * * * The actual answer is that the article was how Russians spoke about the country when speaking English. This was because it was seen as a region, like “the South” or “the West.” When Ukraine became its own sovereign country, it insisted that the correct English translation did not include the article, putting it in line with nearly every other country. “The Ukraine” was never the country’s name. It was just a subtle way for Russia to indicate the country belonged to them. That is the reason Ukraine rejects it. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2022, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-loaf-a-teachable-moment/958212/57 "2022-01-28T13:07:11Z")
> [@Hatchie](#): > > The Amazing guy who swings on a web? Spider-Man. Also with a hyphen in there. Why does he need a hyphen? Don’t know, don’t care. T The hypen is a small strand of web holding the words together. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2022, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-loaf-a-teachable-moment/958212/58 "2022-01-28T13:19:38Z")
> [@Die\_Capacitrix](#): > > I do wonder if such things have changed. My U.S. passport has First name and Last name. There’s no field for a middle name. Apparently, the name that goes on your passport depends on the name on the ID you provide. My husband has no middle name, so his passport and ID do not have a middle name. When I got my driver’s license 40 years ago, it had my middle initial - and so does my passport which I got less than ten years ago. My son got his license about ten years ago - and it has his full middle name (not by his choice) and so does his passport. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2022, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-loaf-a-teachable-moment/958212/59 "2022-01-28T13:28:54Z")
> [@Briny\_Deep](#): > > I’ve heard tales of people who went through their whole military career as “Carol NMI Cairo” (for example), because they have no middle initial yet the personnel database will not accept that. NMI = “No Middle Initial.” My kids are dual Japanese citizens. People don’t have middle names in Japan, so when we received their passports and other docs, we were amused to see that their legal Japanese given name was determined by just smushing their American first and middle names together. ---
**Author:** ![Topologist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/topologist/32/3208_2.png) [@Topologist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Topologist)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2022, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-loaf-a-teachable-moment/958212/60 "2022-01-29T13:12:56Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > > [@Hatchie](#): > > > > Meat Loaf. Two separate words, both capitalized. Not “Meatloaf”. > > While we’re on the subject, the big airline headquartered in Atlanta spells the name of their company “Delta Air Lines”. Not “Airlines”. It is kind of an old fashioned way of spelling it, but I think it’s kind of cool that they still spell it that way. IIRC Eastern used the old timey two word spelling when they were in business, too. Similarly, the Long Island Rail Road, not Railroad. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-loaf-a-teachable-moment/958212.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-loaf-a-teachable-moment/958212.md?page=4)