Module 5
Creativity & Society
Experience 10
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Experience 10 .
One approach to switching on your creativity is to ask
yourself what was an important creative thing your
parents did soon after you were born.
For many of you, that was choosing your name.
Do you know how your name was chosen ?
What’s in a name ! A job or career perhaps !
If you do not know, contact your parents and discuss
their selection and reasons. If you were named after
someone, get to know something about that person.
You will be glad to know this in later life !
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Do you know what message your name carries to the
world ?
Would you like to change that name and the message ?
Have you ever looked carefully at your own name ?
Really !
How many letters does it contain ?
How many are vowels ?
How many curved letters does your name contain ?
If you were a criminal on the run what alias would you
use ?
Why ?
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Write down the names of some famous criminals ? (Lizzie
Borden, Ted Bundy, Sweeney Todd, D.B. Cooper, Sawney
Bean, Al Capone, Buggsy Siegel, etc.). Did you know of
them ?
What was the name of the first murderer apprehended by
the use of transatlantic wireless telegraphy. (Dr. Crippen,
left England by boat with his mistress, disguised as a boy,
but was arrested on arrival in New York. A creative idea
from a British policeman !).
If Bill Gates had an evil brother or sister what would be
their names ? Give both !
What is the name of Superman’s alter ego ?
When Spiderman is not in disguise what is his name ?
What is the birth name of WonderWoman ?
What is the name of the hero of Victor Hugo’s Les
Miserables ?
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These examples should convince you how important a
name can be in communicating an image and a message !
As you move through society you will encounter many
strange names because the US now has a very diverse
population. For example, Native American names such as
Red Cloud, Sitting Bull, Hiawatha and Sacajawea are
particularly poetic in comparison to prosaic Anglo-Saxon
names which are often descriptive of a profession, such as
Carpenter, Sawyer, Miner or Cook. It is noteworthy, that
nowadays Native Americans often combine Anglo-Saxon
first names with Native American family names. Richard
Whitebear, a recently deceased, but inspiring, leader in
Seattle Indian Affairs is an example.
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African Americans often surprise us with some beautiful
sounding names, such as Wyomia, Aretha, Mahalia,
Oprah, Tyra, Mashona, Nedra, Roshanda and D’jenna,
These are not commonly encountered in other societal
groups. Where did these come from ? There is a
fascinating account of the economic effect of names in US
society in the New York Times bestseller Freakonomics by
S.D. Levitt & S.J. Dubner, HarperCollins Publishers Inc.,
New York, NY 10022, pp. 179-204. There is now a new
book Superfreakonomics that you should also read.
You should read these before naming your child !
Consider the BERBER names, Tayri, Tiziri, Anella, Fayna.
So look for the charm in the names of all those persons
you encounter and remember the creativity of the parents
who gave them.
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An English boyhood friend of Professor Allan had the
unfortunate name of Hubert Stinkybottom. Of course,
the Scottish children teased him unmercifully and made
his life miserable. Hubert frequently vowed to change
his name when he was a grown man. Many years later
Prof. Allan encountered him on a bus and asked if he
had indeed changed his name. “You bet” he said
“As soon as I turned 21 I rushed down to the
Courthouse and changed my name to John
Stinkybottom”.
The English frequently use multiple names to denote a
position in society. The more names, the more elevated
the ranking in society. For example, Prince Charles has
about five names (what are they ?). Also, see PBS-TV
Downton Abbey. Sometimes the pronounciation differs
markedly from the spelling. This again, supposedly
indicates a superior position in society. Thus
Chodmondley-Majoribanks is pronounced ChumleyMarshbanks, and St. John is pronounced Sin-gin, for
example. Here is one to ponder: Featherstonehaugh !
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A relevant, allegedly true, story from Victorian times
concerns the famous theater critic, Horatio Bottomly. He
went to the London home of Lord ChodmondleyMajoribanks. The butler opened the door and Bottomly
then asked to see Lord Chodmondley-Majoribanks. The
butler condescendingly told him that the name was
pronounced Lord Chumley-Marshbanks and who should
he say was calling ? To which Bottomly made the tart
response “Thank you, then please tell his Lordship that
Horatio Bumly is here to see him”.
A great deal of creativity in the English language goes
into the naming of groups of things. Such as a school of
fish ! A herd of cows ! A pack of dogs ! A flock of birds !
And the one that the Bottomly story reminded us of … A
condescension of butlers ! Include in your responses an
example of one that particularly appeals to you.
Do other languages have these unusual collective nouns ?
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Of course jokes can be made about all kinds of names.
One about Native American names deals with the
situation where a young brave goes to the old chief and
asks “Why do members of the tribe have names like
Running Deer, Red Cloud, Sitting Bull and Black Wolf”.
The old chief then explains that by tradition just before
giving birth the expectant mother goes to a special
teepee where she is attended by the tribal midwives.
Then at the moment of birth, the flap of the teepee is
thrown open and whatever the mother sees is used to
name the newborn child.
“But why this sudden interest in names, Two Dogs
Copulating” asks the old chief of the young brave.
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In his late night TV show, Jay Leno frequently showed
Marriage Announcements from newspapers where the
names of the engaged couple are amusing in some way
when coupled. A creative twist to this segment of the
show is that the viewers were actually doing the work,
unpaid, by sending clippings from their local newspapers.
Leno’s staff simply pasted them onto cardboard for the
TV camera. No creativity required !
So if you were to change your name what would you
change it to ?
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Names are also important at family levels in societies.
For example, the Scots use Mac before a name to
indicate the son of (MacDonald, the son of Donald); the
Swedes use “son” (Gustafson) to achieve the same
result, while Icelandic people use “dottir = daughter”
(Gudmansdottir for example).
How did that come about ?
Women actually face creative name problems more than
men. For example, upon marriage ! Professional women,
with an already established career, have to decide
whether to stick with their maiden name, change
completely to their husband’s or go to a hyphenated
version. What about the effect of a subsequent divorce ?
In science fields, this can create problems if the woman
has written published articles before marriage with her
maiden name and now changes to something else ! This
can really mess up indexing and literature searching.
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Changing names is very common in the entertainment field.
For example Beyonce or Madonna !
By the way, did you hear that formerly close friends,
Madonna and Cher, have quarreled and are no longer on a
first name basis.
With a name like Marion Morrison what message do you get?
How about John Wayne ? Jeff Bridges ?
Who was John Wayne anyway ?
What was Marilyn Monroe’s birth name ?
Can you come up with three examples of name changes on
your own ?
Actually your name is very important and today can even
determine whether you live or die !
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A Jewish name in Nazi Germany could be a death
sentence and an Arabic name will get you special
attention nowadays at airline counters or at US Customs.
Maybe in Rwanda having a Tutsi name meant you could
be hacked to pieces. Someone had the creativity and
innovation to make a movie about this called Hotel
Rwanda. An idea based on real life. Did you see it ?
Different cultures have different ways of dealing with
names. Is it not remarkable how the names of certain
countries are completely changed by others. For
example, the German people do not call their country
Germany … it is Deutschland ! Similarly the Finns call
their country Suomi, not Finland ! Rumor has it that the
name India will be changed to Bharat ? Cities are now
reverting to their original names such that Peking is now
Beijing and Bombay is now Mumbai.
But London is still Londres in France ! Why ?
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Do you know anyone personally who has changed names ?
Ask your mother if she was happy changing her name ?
What if you actually don’t like your husband’s family
name?
What are you going to name your first little girl (or boy) ?
Why are we so emphasizing names !
Because finding names (or creating them) is a very
important and valuable part of life in US society. Even in
the long ago days of pirates, now being revived in the
movies of Johnny Depp, names such as Blackbeard or
Captain Blood were chosen to terrify potential victims. So
was the Skull-and-Crossbones flag of the pirates. This
tradition is continued today with the names of all-inwrestlers and the design of their costumes. Incidentally,
none of the new TV shows are about pirates (Somalis) or
all-in-wrestlers.
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Examining names is also an excellent entry into the
subject of creativity and society because everyone has to
deal with names … their own, and those of the people
they meet, and the things they buy. People even keep
annual records of the most popular names selected for
newly born infants. Thus the top ten names (by number
of babies so named) in 2010 were, for
Boys; Aiden; Jacob; Jackson; Ethan; Jayden; Noah; Logan;
Caden; Lucas; Liam;
and for
Girls; Sophia; Isabella; Olivia; Emma; Chloe; Ava; Lily;
Madison; Addison: Abigail;
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Moreover, each society deals with a person’s name in a
different way. For example, in Mexico, a child takes both
the father’s and the mother’s family names. Our
Mexican professor colleague, who offers creativity
courses at the University of Guadalajara, has Delgado
from his father and Fornue from his mother. What a nice
touch to honor the mother’s side of the family !
What problems can you see arising from the rigorous
application of this custom ?
An appealing invented name for a thing can actually
become part of the English language and can appear in
English dictionaries. Nylon and Coke are excellent
examples. Such names are not translated and can be
seen interposed within many foreign languages when
traveling abroad.
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Every morning at the breakfast table you will encounter
the names of breakfast cereals.
Look at them tomorrow at breakfast time !
Apply some W5H analysis to create possible names for a
new cereal !
Notice how tough it is to do this. Your candidate names
might, or might not, fit into different societies.
Do you know the name SWIFFLE ? Where did that come
from ?
Have you ever wondered how car names are created in
each country ?
Start looking at car names in the street and ask yourself
what the name says to you.
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For example, Chevrolet Silverado ? Toyota Tundra ?
Ford Fiesta ? Subaru Outback ? Chrysler Barracuda ?
You may have heard of the Chevrolet Nova that sold
poorly in the societies of Latin America because “No va”
in Spanish means “It does not work”.
Have you heard the new name for the Cadillac SUV ?
If you have not, what name would you select ?
How does the word Escalade appeal ?
What do you think of when you hear this name ?
Can you even pronounce it ? How ?
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Have you ever noticed that Japanese cars often have
names that are difficult for Japanese people to pronounce
because of the letters “r” and “l”. Like Corolla and
Camry.
Who creates these names ?
Someone in Japan or someone elsewhere ?
When the Japanese were just getting started in the
production of cars for the international market they sent a
team to Germany to find out how the Germans came up
with impressive names like Mercedes-Benz, Daimler,
Volkswagen, BMW, Audi, etc.
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When the Japanese team visited the German factory
they found to their surprise that an old German
mechanic who worked there, actually was the guy who
came up with the names. The Japanese were
introduced to him and then showed him a picture of
their new car and asked him in English for some name
suggestions. However, the old mechanic had nothing to
suggest but offered to think about it over the next few
days. However, the Japanese indicated that they were
leaving early the very next day ! “Dat soon” the old
German exclaimed. The Japanese from Nissan went
away delighted and the name Datsun came into being !
We will talk more about the legal aspects of names later
in the course.
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Assignments for Experience 10.
Respond to the stimuli, high-lighted in green,
in this Experience and enter into Canvas.
Avoid factual answers to any springboards.
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