Blog Hop II–The Name Game

As if one Blog Hop wasn’t enough for members of Team Pepper, our gracious host, Mark Bialczak has given us a new challenge with another, unique Blog Hop game – The Name Game.  I was nominated for this go-round by Lucy at The Excessive Gardener.

Thank you so much, Lucy!

Here Are the Rules:

1. Write a paragraph or two about somebody from an ordinary walk of life with a unordinary name. It can either be a true story about somebody you know with that name, or a fictional piece about somebody with a name you made up.
2. After you’re done posting your story, send me an email to markbialczak@gmail.com with your Blog Hop II, your blog name and either TRUE STORY or MADE IT UP in the subject line.
3. Pick another Nano Poblano team member from the home page and tag them on their About page. Try to spread the wealth around from Fish of Gold’s original blog hop to start, but duplication is OK as the month rolls along.
4. The writing cutoff is Nov. 28. By the end of Nov. 29, email to me at markbialczak@gmail.com a list with a guess of TRUE STORY or MADE UP for each post on the blog hop. Put Blog Hop II, Final Guesses in the subject line.
5. The Nano Poblano team member with the most correct answers wins a special prize, which I will mail to them. That means you will have to email me your address if you win.
6. Add your link to the chain of writers.
7. Have fun.

My Story: 

I teach English at the college level.  Every year I meet several dozen new students and I have to remember their names.  The older I get, the harder this becomes, especially when I have to distinguish between all the Katrinas, Catherines, Katies, Christina, and Kristas, all of whom sit together, and all of whom have shoulder-length, dark blond hair.

A few years ago, I had one student whose name was easy to remember.  It was Franklin Norton Stein.  Most people called him “Frank,” so I immediately thought of him as Frank N. Stein (Frankenstein.)  I have to admit that for a long time, I had a hard time mustering enough self-control to keep from giggling whenever I called his name.  I usually called him “Franklin” rather than “Frank.”  That helped me keep the snickers under control.

Fortunately for Mr. Stein, he looked nothing at all like the Frankenstein monster.  Whereas the Frankenstein of popular imagination is large, bulky, and awkward, Franklin had wavy, shoulder-length hair.  (Now that I think of it, his hair was pretty similar to Katrina/Catherine/Katie/Christina/Krista’s hair.  Go figure.)  Franklin was not large; he was trim and muscular.  He moved gracefully.  In fact, I think I remember him telling me he liked Latin dancing.

I never told Franklin how funny I found his name and how hard it was for me to keep from laughing.  It sounds so unprofessional, I know.  I hope he’s not reading this now!

I will not reveal whether this story is real or made-up until the challenge is over.  However, I welcome you to say in the comments whether you think it’s real or made-up.  

 

Who has contributed so far?

Markbialczak

Silver Threading

The Chatter Blog

MeWhoAmI

Lindaghill

Lucy at the Excessive gardener

And me DebraB at Debra Books

Now, I nominate

mindfuldigressions