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comment by humanodon
humanodon  ·  4066 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: 30 Below Contest—2013 | Narrative Magazine

I think I will submit one batch of poems. The deadline is November 3 and it costs $22 per entry, so a kind of mid-range as far as entry fees go. You could always submit under your kid's name :)





thenewgreen  ·  4066 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Who, little Wolfram Gunnar? He's not even born yet. Good luck with the entries.

humanodon  ·  4066 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Thanks. I really hope that's his name, because both of those names are awesome and together it's like a cold front and a warm front colliding.

thenewgreen  ·  4066 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I like Wolfram a lot, not too keen on Gunnar. There's next to zero chance I could swing my wife to like either of them. It's looking like Atticus might win the day still. The other day my wife mentioned the name Sawyer. Who knows...

humanodon  ·  4066 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Ok, fair enough. But, if you name him Wolfram Atticus Clausnitzer his initials will be WAC. Dude.

Naming kids seems hard. I have a dog named "Chunk" because the first thing he did after I got him, was to throw up on my foot. I doubt I could get away with naming a kid according to that system. More than one set of parents I know has done their best to pick a name beforehand and then when it came time just went with what felt good (which is how many of them became parents in the first place).

thenewgreen  ·  4066 days ago  ·  link  ·  

with that methodology, you'd end up with a kid named Meconium. Funny that you mention your dog. We have two; Hemingway and Harrison. My wife loves the name Harrison and now regrets using it for the dog.

humanodon  ·  4066 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I did not know that word until now. There are lots of gross words associated with babies and the birthing process, like episiotomy.. That link by the way, has a diagram. The entry for meconium tells me that amniotic fluid is also called "amniotic liquor". I am not keen to learn why, but it's the time of night when the Wikipedia will-o'-wisps start dancing.

I find that naming animals is hard too. I had a pig named Squeak and before that a turtle named Fatass.

Tough luck with Harrison. You could go with Harris, but that might be confusing. Anyway, by the time the kid is 30, few of your kid's social circle would know that your dog was named Harrison too.

What would you go with for the short form of "Atticus"? Some names do not lend themselves well to shortening.

thenewgreen  ·  4066 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    What would you go with for the short form of "Atticus"?
I think it would be Atty.
humanodon  ·  4066 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Makes sense. I guess "Cus" is out. Since reading that Atticus is now a popular boy's name, I've been trying to imagine a world where running into an Atticus will be not unusual. I guess it won't be that big a deal, though I am still adjusting to the current America where little girls named Madison seem to be everywhere.

I can't divorce that name from Wisconsin. And I feel bad, because I have those New English prejudices about what the rest of the country is like, even though I know they aren't necessarily true . . .