# You've GOT to be shitting me!! Names.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-to-be-shitting-me-names/434361
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [January 21, 2008, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-to-be-shitting-me-names/434361 "2008-01-21T11:20:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2008, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-to-be-shitting-me-names/434361/1 "2008-01-21T11:20:32Z")
In my work as a telefundraiser for a number of charities (yeah, all the mud-slinging has already been done so unless you’ve got something ORIGINAL to add, fuck off! 😃 ) I come across some most interesting names on our databases. It’s a matter of much mirth for us poor schmucks on the telephone, and brightens our otherwise dull and dreary days.
Just last week I spoke to **Debra Crossing** …she was a lovely lady and (of course) prefers the Debbie version of her name to avoid people like myself having a titter at her expense. 😛
Today I came across the name to end all names. I looked at my computer screen, then removed my glasses and gave them a puff and polish and looked again. It was still the same…but by _that_ time the tears were streaming outta my eyes so much that I couldn’t see nuffink, and NO WAY could I ring this wonderful donor to ask her to support our charity for the eighth time in four years.
Her name was **Mrs Cancankerous Wang**. Apologies to anyone out there who goes by the Christian name of Cancankerous, but by FUCK, what the HELL??
And with Wang as a surname, it just makes it all the more, er…novel, I guess. :eek:
That’s the best that I’ve EVER come across. No pun intended for the filthy-minded amongst you.
😉
---
### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2008, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-to-be-shitting-me-names/434361/2 "2008-01-21T13:51:36Z")
And when you call Mrs Wang she knows you’re a telemarketer and hangs up.
Many of us routinely give false names to different places we can’t buy from anonymously (e.g websites & magazines) so we can track who they sell our names to, regardless of their promise not to.
When anyone calls my house asking for one of my fake names, they get a quick “click”.
As a clueless 'merican I must say I can’t find anything humorous in “Debra Crossing”; perhaps there’s some Aussie slang in there I don’t get. Please enlighten us.
---
### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2008, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-to-be-shitting-me-names/434361/3 "2008-01-21T13:53:51Z")
Z for D
---
### Author:  [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2008, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-to-be-shitting-me-names/434361/4 "2008-01-21T13:55:50Z")
Is it just Z for D? is “Good Luck” funny? (F for L)
---
### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2008, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-to-be-shitting-me-names/434361/5 "2008-01-21T13:56:32Z")
And I guess that Cancankerous gets 6 results in Google and all are misspellings proves your point.
---
### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2008, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-to-be-shitting-me-names/434361/6 "2008-01-21T14:02:07Z")
I think Debra Crossing is like the woman I worked with, Sue Clark. After she married she became Sue Ridge.
Sure it is only worth a titter, like the OP said, but you can hardly miss it.
Or is it that you guys don’t call pedestrian crossings Zebra Crossings to help the kids?
---
### Author:  [@Avarie537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avarie537)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2008, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-to-be-shitting-me-names/434361/7 "2008-01-21T14:09:08Z")
I rented a costume to Lindsay Wagner last week. Not the Bionic Woman, but some guy in his mid-20s. I felt really bad for him.
---
### Author:  [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2008, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-to-be-shitting-me-names/434361/8 "2008-01-21T14:30:56Z")
[QUOTE=don’t ask]
I think Debra Crossing is like the woman I worked with, Sue Clark. After she married she became Sue Ridge.
Sure it is only worth a titter, like the OP said, but you can hardly miss it.
Or is it that you guys don’t call pedestrian crossings Zebra Crossings to help the kids?
[/QUOTE]
Now that you explain it, I understand, but I wouldn’t have otherwise.
First off, as you stated, we don’t commonly refer to them a Zebra Crossings here, mainly because most of them aren’t striped like zebras. Usually, pedestrian crossings are just a set of parallel lines making a lane to cross the street.
Also, we pronounce the name of the animal as “ZEE-bra” instead of “ZEH-bra” so it wouldn’t sound like Debra at all.
Now that I’ve straightened that out, what’s with Sue Ridge? I don’t understand that one at all, unless it’s the fact that it sounds like Zurich (Switzerland).
ETA: Of course, now that I just posted, I see the connection with “sewerage”. Never mind.
---
### Author:  [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2008, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-to-be-shitting-me-names/434361/9 "2008-01-21T14:36:44Z")
In the last month, I have had minor dealings with:
Daisy Chan
Ms. Finger & Mr. Beaver
Bum Lik
and
Kathryn Hepburn.
---
### Author:  [@Mahna\_Mahna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahna_Mahna)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2008, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-to-be-shitting-me-names/434361/10 "2008-01-21T15:08:23Z")
From my call centre days:
Roger Abbot (his sister is Esther, BTW… poor bunnies)
Harold Dyck (who actually went by “Harry”)
S. Nimrod (whose emails were sent in a format of lastname, firstname, much to our amusement)
Richard Wilcox (or “Dick” to his friends)
…and my favourite of all, Ms Fuk Yu (which may or may not have been her real name).
---
### Author:  [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2008, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-to-be-shitting-me-names/434361/11 "2008-01-21T15:09:33Z")
[QUOTE=LSLGuy]
And when you call Mrs Wang she knows you’re a telemarketer and hangs up.
[/QUOTE]
Probably not-
> [@](#):
>
> this wonderful donor to ask her to support our charity for the eighth time in four years
Underlining mine.
Sounds like she’s a giver.
---
### Author:  [@TwoTrouts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoTrouts)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2008, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-to-be-shitting-me-names/434361/12 "2008-01-21T15:09:47Z")
Now I see… To clarify:
1. In the States, we do not use the term “Zebra Crossing” for a pedestrain crossing.
2. In the States, the word “Zebra” is pronounced “ZEE-bra”, so it does not rhyme with Debra.
Once it gets past those filters in my brain… yes, it is a funny name!
---
### Author:  [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2008, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-to-be-shitting-me-names/434361/13 "2008-01-21T15:42:19Z")
[QUOTE=Mahna Mahna]
Roger Abbot (his sister is Esther, BTW… poor bunnies)
[/QUOTE]
You may remember another Roger Abbott (or maybe it’s the same one!) from the _Royal Canadian Air Farce_.
---
### Author:  [@Litoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Litoris)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2008, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-to-be-shitting-me-names/434361/14 "2008-01-21T16:00:05Z")
Working in a call center, I get all kinds of interesting names – I have talked to the same guy a few times. He owns a flower shop – his name is John Holmes. I’ve also talked to Andrea Lien (pronounced leeon) who prefers going by just her first initial and her last name - A. Lien. Yeh, she owns a curio shop.
The one that cracked me up the other day, though, was a Ms. Tucci-Condom. Of course, I should mention that I used to call my girly bits my “toochi” when being silly, and yes, that is how Tucci is pronounced. It was really hard to keep from snorting while I talked to her!
---
### Author:  [@masterofnone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/masterofnone)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2008, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-to-be-shitting-me-names/434361/15 "2008-01-21T16:08:19Z")
I used to work with a guy named David William Blow, and his son Dave Will Blow II. I’ll never understand why the guy passed down that name. Given the guy’s attitude , it was probably a “Boy Named Sue” thing.
---
### Author:  [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2008, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-to-be-shitting-me-names/434361/16 "2008-01-21T16:11:13Z")
The favourite name I encountered in my last job was Rex Brain, a really nice bloke from Cornwall I think.
---
### Author:  [@Mahna\_Mahna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahna_Mahna)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2008, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-to-be-shitting-me-names/434361/17 "2008-01-21T16:17:30Z")
[QUOTE=matt\_mcl]
You may remember another Roger Abbott (or maybe it’s the same one!) from the _Royal Canadian Air Farce_.
[/QUOTE]
The weekend soundtrack to my childhood was CBC Radio (this would be the pre-TV glory days of Double Exposure and Air Farce). I’m sad to say it definitely wasn’t THAT Roger Abbot. I’d have recognized the voice immediately after that much exposure to it, even sans the Jean Chretien impression.
(I’ve had run-ins with two of the other cast members, though… when I was growing up in East End TO, Luba Goy would occasionally be spotted shopping at our local Loblaws, and I helped Don Ferguson pick out a gift several years ago whilst working as a sales clerk)
---
### Author:  [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2008, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-to-be-shitting-me-names/434361/18 "2008-01-21T17:03:09Z")
Not quite on point, but while watching college football awhile back, the TV camera focused on the backs of two players sitting next to each other on the bench. I had to chuckle at the names on their jerseys – one Dingle, one Berry.
---
### Author:  [@Plynck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plynck)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2008, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-to-be-shitting-me-names/434361/19 "2008-01-21T17:10:19Z")
[QUOTE=masterofnone]
I used to work with a guy named David William Blow, and his son Dave Will Blow II. I’ll never understand why the guy passed down that name. Given the guy’s attitude , it was probably a “Boy Named Sue” thing.
[/QUOTE]
So which would be worse - to have a “II” after your name, or the more proper “Junior”? Well, if this continues for another generation, the boy will have a bright future in the motion pictures.
---
### Author:  [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2008, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-to-be-shitting-me-names/434361/20 "2008-01-21T17:11:05Z")
[QUOTE=don’t ask]
Z for D
[/QUOTE]
How do Australians pronounce ‘Zebra’–“zeebra” or “zeh-bra”? I suppose it’s funnier if ‘Debra’ rhymes with ‘zebra’.
I’ve always thought the phrase ‘zebra crossing’ was funny in itself. It’s not much used in America, if at all, and it makes it sound as if motorists in other English-speaking countries have to be careful at all times, in even the biggest cities, not to run into the many zebras that must be wandering around Sydney, London, and other major cities.
“Brake for animals”, indeed!
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youve-got-to-be-shitting-me-names/434361.md?page=2)