Things you were shockingly old when you learned

This week I realized “brainstorm” is a play on “rainstorm”

I also recently realized “Van Morrison” isn’t one surname. I always thought the Van was a prefix - I took me realizing Morrison isn’t a Dutch name to consider it. Then I looked it up and saw it’s short for Ivan (also learned Ivan can be Van). Growing up I didn’t really encounter any Vans, and also lumped Van Morrison and Donovan together so kind of just assumed it was a mononym.

never thought about brainstorm/rainstorm

there was a period in the UK when people had decided that the word "brainstorm" was offensive to people with epilepsy but my ex contacted a few campaingning groups who said they thought that was bollocks

i did used to think Van was his middle Dutch name tho :D

i mean fuck it, orangemen

I knew a kid whose middle name was Van.

Looked it up in the SSA's baby name registry and it has never left the top 1000 names! Morrison's birth year, 1945, is pretty close to peak Van though. It topped out the next year at 265.

Oh wait, it dropped out of the top 1000 between 1992 and 2005.

like famous composer Van Gelis

Van Heflin and Van Johnson would both have been popular when Van Morrison was growing up.

Van Cliburn, but that was a nickname

I doubt he was as famous on the streets of Belfast as Van Johnson.

(xp) It was short for his middle name Lavan.

Van Heflin = middle name Evan

Van Johnson = middle name Van Dell

As a kid I too thought Van Morrison must be his last name, but then I thought about it a bit and realized it was extremely unlikely there was any place in Netherlands called "Morrison"

I have a sister named Vanessa (whom we called Van) so it never occurred to that it wasn't his first name, but I also never thought about what it could be a short form of. I guess I thought "Van" was the male form of the name.

His full name is Vanagon.

I think part of the confusion comes from the fact that people often emphasize the "Mor" instead of the "Van" which makes it sound more like a last name.

I think I usually emphasise a person’s surname over their first name. Exception being when I’m having a discussion about different members of the Jackson family or something.

https://i.imgur.com/cz1Dwwp.jpg

when David Lee Roth isn't enough of a pain in the ass...

apparently the Red Hot Chili Peppers have a song called "Sexy Mexican Maid" that was co-written by D.H. Peligro of the Dead Kennedys (RIP)

Yeah, he was a Chi-Pep briefly after Hillel died, but they fired him over drug issues. RIP.

Did he refuse to take drugs?

No, he gave it away, gave it away, gave it away.

According to Anthony's memoir D.H. was drinking heavily, fucking up in live performances, and missing rehearsals. This was also right after Anthony's first stint in rehab, so he admits to being very bossy about his teetotaling.

I remember the story of D.H. being bust by Australian cops for standing on the street with an intact can in his hand. Hadn't really heard any further about him & drink.
Have just read about Kid Congo's various attempts at cleaning himself up and how several failed .

may be more only temporarily cleans himself off then falls heavily off wagon and does have at least some clean interval between which is a bit more positive.

IIRC, D.H. Peligro was responsible for introducing Frusciante to RHCP

(many xps: I went to high school with a Vanessa who always went by "Van")

I'm sure she was very nuys.

So I am a pretty serious Annie Dillard fan and I knew very little about the actual circumstances surrounding the composition of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.

This piece in The Atlantic covers the topic sensitively - yes, it is a great work of art, but no, it was not conceived in solitude in a remote wilderness.

https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2015/02/the-thoreau-of-the-suburbs/385128/

Upon reflection I don't care. Every word in it still holds up.

Finisterre = finis terre = land's end

(^ Ali Smith, 'Winter')

I knew that, but it only recently occurred to me that as James is Iago in Spanish, Santiago = Saint James

Cool. Did you also get into the James/Jacob thing as well?

He grasps the heel.

OK, did not know about the James/Jacob thing!

Shocking

i have known for a while that James / Jacob / Jacques are the same name, or related. but i did not know that you could throw Iago and Diego in there as well!

and you can add Seamus to the list ...

Jamie, Jack, Jimbeaux

What's weird - from what I just read on the internet - is that James originally comes from an early French corruption of the Greek to 'Gemmes'. And yet French ultimately plumped for Jacques, which is much closer to Jacob!

yup during some history week or reading or whatever i got all confused about the term "jacobean" to describe that period and so found out. the james shit is crazy.

Let's not forget the Jacobites either!

that's the first thing I thought of when people started talking about that Jacobin thing, why is there a magazine about Bonnie Prince Charlie and the glorious '45?!?

The Jacobites have got all the best tunes too.

I always thought jacobites were just mini cream crackers?

I was talking to my 7 year old about the possibility of watching Goonies together and she was asking questions about it. I said there were a couple of guys named Chunk and Sloth.

“Let me guess, Chunk is chunky and Sloth is slow?”

“No… well, actually…”

I always assumed Sloth was a random, absurd name.

The yawning silence around NickB's (frankly appalling) joke is filling me with pathos.

hahaha i dont even know what possessed me to write that but pathos away my friend

Hahahaha. Game knows game, as the kids say.

that the bo diddley beat is just son clave

!

I knew that, but it only recently occurred to me that as James is Iago in Spanish, Santiago = Saint James
― Zelda Zonk, Thursday, November 3, 2022 9:48 PM (two weeks ago) bookmarkflaglink

Last night I realized that José is Joseph and that Salvador is Savior (making San Salvador = Saint-Sauveur for example).