conuly: (Default)
conuly ([personal profile] conuly) wrote2009-02-27 12:00 am
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So, hey.

So, remember this post, wherein Evangeline twice used the construction "name is called"?

Today, I heard Ana spontaneously say that as well while she and Evangeline were playing pretend. Evangeline pretended she didn't know her, and she replied "My name is called..." (which is very strange, because in real life I can't get either one of them to a. ask names or b. share their own names, not for love or money). She wasn't there when Evangeline said it that time, and I haven't heard Evangeline say it since (though she might have out of earshot).

So...

1. One of them is cribbing off the other?
2. Or there's another person they're copying?
3. Or this is actually becoming a much more common turn of phrase than I'd realized, and it's more widespread than any of us could've imagined?
4. Or they both misunderstood the normal rules for giving somebody's name in the same way?

Edit: I don't want to make a new post, so read this edit. Evangeline is in the habit of referring to the act of turning something right-side out as "insiding it out". I don't really pay it much attention, but today she made a really long sentence with that phrase that struck my fancy: I can't come now, wait, because I'm insiding the sleeve on my jacket out right now. Even if I were inclined to say "insiding out" I think I'd say "I'm insiding out my jacket sleeve" instead just to keep that verb more together.

[identity profile] norinel.livejournal.com 2009-02-27 04:53 am (UTC)(link)
From Through the Looking Glass (source http://www.oxfordstorypods.com/lewis-carroll-first-python.html)

Alice was walking beside the White Knight in Looking Glass Land.
"You are sad." the Knight said in an anxious tone: "let me sing you a song to comfort you."

"Is it very long?" Alice asked, for she had heard a good deal of poetry that day.

"It's long." said the Knight, "but it's very, very beautiful. Everybody that hears me sing it - either it brings tears to their eyes, or else -"

"Or else what?" said Alice, for the Knight had made a sudden pause.

"Or else it doesn't, you know. The name of the song is called 'Haddocks' Eyes.'"

"Oh, that's the name of the song, is it?" Alice said, trying to feel interested.

"No, you don't understand," the Knight said, looking a little vexed. "That's what the name is called. The name really is 'The Aged, Aged Man.'"

"Then I ought to have said 'That's what the song is called'?" Alice corrected herself.

"No you oughtn't: that's another thing. The song is called 'Ways and Means' but that's only what it's called, you know!"

"Well, what is the song then?" said Alice, who was by this time completely bewildered.

"I was coming to that," the Knight said. "The song really is 'A-sitting On a Gate': and the tune's my own invention."

[identity profile] norinel.livejournal.com 2009-02-27 05:29 am (UTC)(link)
*links, links*

Ah yes, and the "His name shall be called Jesus" stuff in the Christmas service I go to triggers the same memory.

I tend to enjoy British humor, but I tried to watch the British version of The Office once and just couldn't get into it. Maybe it was because I was too used to the American version's pacing and style that I was expecting that rather than expecting something British?

[identity profile] sayga.livejournal.com 2009-02-27 04:58 am (UTC)(link)
Love and money might not convince them, but perhaps chocolate would.
ext_78: A picture of a plush animal. It looks a bit like a cross between a duck and a platypus. (Default)

[identity profile] pne.livejournal.com 2009-02-27 02:28 pm (UTC)(link)
I think Amy does the "his name is called" thing, too, so I'm guessing "4".
ext_78: A picture of a plush animal. It looks a bit like a cross between a duck and a platypus. (Default)

[identity profile] pne.livejournal.com 2009-02-28 07:26 am (UTC)(link)
But Amy's bilingual, so maybe she's heard the construction in German somewhere?

I suppose it's possible, but "mein Name heißt Maria" sounds as odd to me in German as "my name is called Maria" does in English.

[identity profile] norinel.livejournal.com 2009-02-27 04:53 am (UTC)(link)
From Through the Looking Glass (source http://www.oxfordstorypods.com/lewis-carroll-first-python.html)

Alice was walking beside the White Knight in Looking Glass Land.
"You are sad." the Knight said in an anxious tone: "let me sing you a song to comfort you."

"Is it very long?" Alice asked, for she had heard a good deal of poetry that day.

"It's long." said the Knight, "but it's very, very beautiful. Everybody that hears me sing it - either it brings tears to their eyes, or else -"

"Or else what?" said Alice, for the Knight had made a sudden pause.

"Or else it doesn't, you know. The name of the song is called 'Haddocks' Eyes.'"

"Oh, that's the name of the song, is it?" Alice said, trying to feel interested.

"No, you don't understand," the Knight said, looking a little vexed. "That's what the name is called. The name really is 'The Aged, Aged Man.'"

"Then I ought to have said 'That's what the song is called'?" Alice corrected herself.

"No you oughtn't: that's another thing. The song is called 'Ways and Means' but that's only what it's called, you know!"

"Well, what is the song then?" said Alice, who was by this time completely bewildered.

"I was coming to that," the Knight said. "The song really is 'A-sitting On a Gate': and the tune's my own invention."

[identity profile] norinel.livejournal.com 2009-02-27 05:29 am (UTC)(link)
*links, links*

Ah yes, and the "His name shall be called Jesus" stuff in the Christmas service I go to triggers the same memory.

I tend to enjoy British humor, but I tried to watch the British version of The Office once and just couldn't get into it. Maybe it was because I was too used to the American version's pacing and style that I was expecting that rather than expecting something British?

[identity profile] sayga.livejournal.com 2009-02-27 04:58 am (UTC)(link)
Love and money might not convince them, but perhaps chocolate would.
ext_78: A picture of a plush animal. It looks a bit like a cross between a duck and a platypus. (Amy)

[identity profile] pne.livejournal.com 2009-02-27 02:28 pm (UTC)(link)
I think Amy does the "his name is called" thing, too, so I'm guessing "4".
ext_78: A picture of a plush animal. It looks a bit like a cross between a duck and a platypus. (Amy)

[identity profile] pne.livejournal.com 2009-02-28 07:26 am (UTC)(link)
But Amy's bilingual, so maybe she's heard the construction in German somewhere?

I suppose it's possible, but "mein Name heißt Maria" sounds as odd to me in German as "my name is called Maria" does in English.