A highlight from the 2009 Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony [AIR 15:6]: Acceptance speech for the prize for veterinary medicine [for showing that cows who have names give more milk than cows that are nameless] Peter Rowlinson: “I grew up on a dairy farm in Suffolk, 15 miles from Cambridge. I find myself geographically challenged being […]
Tag: Names
Detroit Doctors: D for Death
Two doctors in Detroit say the letter “D’ foreshadows death: “Athletes, Doctors, and Lawyers with First Names Beginning with ‘D’ Die Sooner,” Ernest L. Abel and Michael L. Kruger, Death Studies, vol. 34, no. 1, January 2010 , pp. 71-81 The authors, at Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, report: “a possible explanation for the association […]
Criminal names
What’s in a name? Possibly a life of crime. An unpopular name – like Alec, Ernest, Ivan, or Malcolm – is more likely to spell trouble than favourites Michael, Matthew or Christopher, according to research presented Saturday at the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of B.C. “There is a positive […]