[Magdalen] Mardi Gras.

[Lynn Ronkainen]

Great story about your special uncle.  My dad was born in MN, both parents 
were at least 2nd generation Americans (one with roots in Norway - Hagen, 
the other migrated across the country to MN with roots in Ireland - Tully). 
My dad was also 'great generation' ww2 Veteran. Funny how names and 
nicknames can be so complex!

Lynn

website: www.ichthysdesigns.com

When I stand before God at the end of my life I would hope that I have not a 
single bit of talent left and could say, "I used everything You gave me." 
attributed to Erma Bombeck
"Either Freedom for all or stop talking about Freedom at all" from a talk by 
Richard Rohr
"The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they 
oppress." F Douglass

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From: "Sibyl Smirl" <polycarpa3 at ckt.net>
Sent: Wednesday, March 01, 2017 10:40 AM
To: <magdalen at herberthouse.org>
Subject: Re: [Magdalen] Mardi Gras.

> On 2/28/17 10:27 PM, Lynn Ronkainen wrote:
>> Interesting Sibyl. My dad's name was Eugene and he was 1/2 Norwegian from 
>> MN. I'm wondering if that was a popular Scandinavian name? When he left 
>> home he was called by his last name by friends for the rest of his life - 
>> Tully.
>> Lynn
>
> Uncle Gene was an exception.  He had a lot of names, and didn't really 
> belong in my example.  His birth name was Harry Eugene Anderson.  He was 
> native-born American, and his parents came from Sweden already married. 
> For some reason, we had quite a few Swedish immigrants here in this little 
> rural area who arrived in the early 20th century, many of them already 
> related (came here specifically probably because they had a brother or a 
> cousin here before them, and knew that this was a good place for farmers). 
> The mother of one of my friends didn't speak any English when she entered 
> the First Grade of one of the rural schools (those schools didn't have 
> Kindergarten, nor did mine. That was for town kids).  She managed just 
> fine, and grew up to be a teacher herself.  My Uncle Gene had an Uncle 
> whom I knew here, who had a thick accent, called "Tory" (that was how I 
> heard it, and assumed that it was similar to the Tories from the American 
> Revolution and the British and Canadian political parties.)  I had read a 
> lot of Norse mythology, and was amazed when I saw the proper spelling on 
> his tombstone when I was an adult: it was spelled "Thor"!  I had never 
> connected the American farmer I knew with The Thunderer!
>    Anyway, back to Uncle Gene, one of the Greatest Generation, fought in 
> Europe in WWII, and totally American as far as anybody could notice, 
> except for the nickname "Swede".  Besides the ones I mentioned, the people 
> who worked at the fertilizer plant with him all called him "Andy", for 
> Anderson, his surname.  If somebody they ran into in town when he was with 
> my aunt, his wife, called him "Andy", she knew where he worked.
>   He was the finest of men, almost as perfect as my dad.  I miss him.
>
>
>>
>> On Feb 28, 2017, at 9:55 PM, Sibyl Smirl <polycarpa3 at ckt.net> wrote:
>>
>>> On 2/28/17 9:24 PM, ME Michaud wrote:
>>> This makes no sense to me but, of course, it's cultural.
>>>
>>> I cannot imagine calling someone by a name that's not theirs.
>>> His first name is Youssef, not Tony.
>>
>> Ever hear of nicknames?  He bought the nickname with the business, in 
>> this case, but I knew a lot of men when I was younger whose real first 
>> names I didn't know at all until I was adult and looking at the Farmer's 
>> Union accounts, and then never used them to call name.  We didn't use the 
>> title-firstname (or nickname) convention in my area, though. "Frenchy" 
>> Lawson even used his nickname on his election posters, and if I ever knew 
>> his real first name, I've forgotten it.  Then there was my uncle, who 
>> went by "Swede" among men, but his wasn't so firmly attached: I called 
>> him "Uncle Harry" or "Uncle Gene", and some called him "Harry Gene", real 
>> first and middle names (Eugene, actually, but for some reason he hated 
>> EUgene, and everybody respected that).  Then I knew several "Shorty"s, a 
>> couple of "Bud"s, and one "Red".
>>
>>
>
>
> -- 
> Sibyl Smirl
> I will take no bull from your house!  Psalms 50:9a
> mailto:polycarpa3 at ckt.net