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Ah hell. Just when we thought the good times were rolling, syphilis makes a comeback in the Big Apple.
I might as well just get married now. At least it’s easily curable.
Because I’ll probably never get another opening, here’s where I’ll relate this story:
Years and years ago, a co-worker told me that she knew a woman who named her daughter Syphilis. Apparently, the mother — who was of the lower-class persuasion — came across the word, liked the way it sounded, figured was a variant of the name Phyllis, and planted the pretty-sounding name onto her offspring. Obviously, the mother had never heard of the STD; that’s no guarantee that she didn’t have a case of it, thus giving a disease-fevered explanation for a pretty boneheaded move.
I can’t swear that the spelling matches the conventional one for the disease. Maybe the “philis” part would get emphasis, so something like “SiPhylis” is what the kid is now saddled with. Regardless, I’m thinking mother-daughter relations are pretty frosty by now.
Category: New Yorkin', Science, Wordsmithing
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This reminds me of the story Levitt wrote about the girl named “Temptress” who was in all sorts of trouble as a misguided youth, and the mother couldn’t figure out why. Turns out the mother thought “Temptress” was the same as “tempestt” and didn’t know what the word “temptress” meant.
I should forward this story to him, maybe it’ll be in the next Freakonomics book.
Comment by tim — 08/13/2007 @ 02:46:20 PM
I assume she was inspired by Tempestt Bledsoe, since that’s the only instance of the unique double-t spelling I can think of? Once again, a former Cosby kid causes mischief
Comment by CT — 08/13/2007 @ 03:01:21 PM
She was indeed. Levitt points out that had she been named the opposite name, Chastity, the statistics suggest she wouldn’t have turned out any differently (his entire point being that your lot in life is pretty well predicted for you at the time you’re born, and your name tends to simply reflect that life that’s set up for you, not determine it).
Comment by tim — 08/13/2007 @ 07:25:40 PM