I am in a hotel room in a foreign country. As is my custom when I am in hotel rooms in foreign countries, I have turned on the TV and tuned into the BBC. When the Beeb begins repeating itself, I tell myself I am too long in the hotel room -- the news has already cycled through:. . . . forest fires across southern Europe, the race car driver who's been seriously injured, the French President falling down, The Italian Prime Minister setting a bad example for young Italians, stem cell medical fraud, forest fires across southern Europe . . . .I'm not just watching the news. I'm doing things, other things. The news is background noise. I don't know why I don't turn it off. It's cycling through.
Hasn't anything else happened in the world?
The BBC decides to air an entire programme to expound on one of the earlier snippets. Stem cell medical fraud uncovered. The BBC has gone undercover. I won't go into all the wheres and wherefores of the story. The important bit is that whilst I was busy doing my other things, the BBC managed to jolt me to attention when they mentioned one of their expert witnesses by name.
It wasn't the recognition of the name the elicited my reaction. It was sympathy.
Oh, dear.
Poor ol' Dr. Stephen Minger (rhymes with 'ringer') has got one hell of a bad surname. David Minge doesn't have it so good either.
For those of you on the other side of the Atlantic: Minger. Minge.
7 comments:
Minge is one of those words that absolutely makes my skin crawl. I can't explain why, I just shudder whenever I hear it.
But what country? Also, when I used to travel lots on business I always spent the first half hour in the hotel room cleaning out my purse. It was my own little ritual.
Beth ~ 'Minge' is so much worse than 'Minger', and I agree ... skin crawling. Funny how the placement of a few innocent letters can cause shudders. The 'C' word is just fine in comparison.
Franklin ~ I'll tell you tonight! Funny the little rituals ... part of nesting? x, e
My mum and dad have that exact same pig.
How cool is that?
Oh, that is funny. And without the jumps I would have had no idea what you were talking about.
My surname use to be "Pollack" which is a derogatory term for someone from Poland. My brother and I think some wiseguy tagged our grandfather with it when he immigrated from Poland. It's one of the many reasons why I took my wife's name when we married.
I can quite clearly recall my time on one of the RAF's helicopter squadrons, where we had a rather memorably named pilot called Richard Head - we just called him "Sir"...
Daniel ~ Way cool! (There's not a chance that they are my neighbours?)
UB ~ You took your wife's name?! That's way cool too! I know a couple who merged names. It worked well.
Chris ~ That is hysterical. Poor dickhead.
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