Making It Up As I Go Along #385

Flinstones, Meet the Flinstones
Words and phrases change over the years. There are communities that have had to deal with the differences of years. The Newfoundland community of Gay Side. They became so sensitive to the change in the meaning of the word “gay” that they decided to change the name of their community. Baytona has taken it’s place. From a community that was happy and light... to Baytona. Look what the modernization of homosexuality has done.

Some communities grin and bare it. Dildo... and Dildo Run. Two locals, again in Newfoundland, that must deal with the jabs and snickers that come with the modern day meaning of the word. A few years ago, there was a controversy in Newfoundland because a kid and his father went to Toronto to watch a Maple Leaf game. The game was televised and the kid, wanting to get on TV, made a sign stating how “Dildo loves the Maple Leafs”. An usher took the sign away from the child. Community name or no... that word isn’t about to be put on television during a hockey game. Most people in Newfoundland seemed to take the kid’s side. But realistically, I’m in no way surprised that the sign would be lost and I kept thinking that the father must have been naive to think they would be able to hold up a sign with the word Dildo on it and not have problems.

Going back to “gay”. If the Flinstones came on the air today, the theme song would open you up to imagining a completely different style of cartoon. After all, the Flinstones “Will have a gay old time...” Betty and Wilma in one house... Fred and Barney in the other... or perhaps a night of bowling, or a meeting of the Royal Order of Water Buffalo, lead by the Grand Poobah... well... in today’s land of “gay old times” the activities of such a club could be vastly different. And bowling could simply be a code word.

Names can bring new meanings as well. Adolf must have been a fairly popular German name prior to World War II. Not so popular anymore.

I’ve seen several Michael Jackson’s in the world. And I’ve often thought “why wouldn’t that guy go with his middle name?” Or “I’d be calling myself Mike Jackson instead.” This is especially true after the allocations late in Jackson’s life came out.

Even I have come under the name problem. Chris Brown. There have always been many of us. But none of us have been terribly famous. The most trouble I’d have was with a goalie who was a year or two older than me back home. He’d go off to hockey tournaments and people would ask me how it went.

Since I joined the RCMP, I’ve gotten many an e-mail meant for a police officer in BC (who’s e-mail is Christopher instead of my Chris). I’ve forwarded them along and we’ve joked with each other over the mix ups.

But now I’m famous. Those years of me saying the other Michael Jackson’s should go by Mike or their middle name have come back to haunt me. For I beat up Rihanna.

I’ve had teenage girls call me to ask why I hit her before they broke into Chris Brown song. I’ve had officers from across the country also make comment. In fact, it got so bad that, when asked for my name, I would only volunteer Chris. When they’d push me for the second name, it would happen. A pause... followed by “Chris Brown? Why’d you do that to Rihanna?” I could be talking to an officer who’s in a rush to get information to put away a robber. But they’d need to take that extra second to ask me about Rihanna.

So perhaps I should become Christopher full time now. Or switch to my middle name... Lloyd Brown the second. One thing I can assure everyone... I shan’t be called Baytona Brown anytime soon.


FRIDAY...
— Work. Get up okay as I’m still sort of on NF time. Distracting afternoon as we wait for e-mails informing us of the FIT 3 promotion. Good news comes to me. It means my acting position will become permanent. So after that, it’s a more easy going time.

SATURDAY...
— Quiet day at work. Phil buys me a sub for my promotion and we pretty much just hold down the fort for most of the day.
— Out for drinks and food in the night at Grace O’Malley’s. Martin, Kiyomi, Jason, Phil, Sarah, Angela, and Bana all go. It’s fun.

SUNDAY...
— Quiet night at work with Chinese food.

MONDAY...
— Hit the gym at work tonight. And before work, go to the mall to replace my bluetooth charger. While there I check out some DVD’s at HMV and buy a couple of cheap ones. The Princess Bride is much less a chick movie than the title would say... and Blair Witch Project is a classic.

TUESDAY...
— Quiet day. Sleep until about 11:30 and laze about on a rainy day after that. First day off work is often a jetlag day.

WEDNESDAY...
— Supper at Melissa’s. Burgers and salad with Kutlik and Dusty there as well.
— Off to the movies with Melissa. The Informant is good... but maybe not quite as good as I expected going in. Still worth seeing.

THURSDAY...
— Hockey’s back. Montreal beats Toronto in overtime in a fairly entertaining game. Vancouver and Calgary, I don’t watch much of but looks fairly good in the third.
— Laundry day.