The "Crapo" Fighting Spirit Lives On!

I live in L.A. but my roommate is from Idaho, and apparently, Mike Crapo was just reelected to his Senate seat there, by a large margin. Seems Idahoans aren't fed up with the same old Crapo.

Also, I hear it's pronounced "Cray-poh"

On the topic of silly surnames, I recently drove by an orthodontist clinic with a big sign on it that reads, "Payne Orthodontics" (it's true! look em up in google - they're located in Utah).

Also notable: the font that Deb Crapo's name is written in is most popularly known as "Hobo".

(INCREDIBLE TIE-IN TO TODAY'S COMIC!)

Seattle Pacific University's first president (back when it was a seminary) was Alexander Beers. Being a Christian university that frowned on alcoholic beverages, the school was hard put to name a building "Beers Hall"... so it went for "Alexander Hall" which is the first and oldest building on campus with distinctive towers at each corner.

I later worked at a Christian high school where the longtime chairman of the board of trustees was K. Poole. There was speculation on campus over what would happen if we tried to honor him by naming one of the buildings after him... somehow Poole Hall wasn't going to make the cut...

Okay, with MY sick sense of humor, I couldn't help but chuckle the Deb is running for Register of PROBATE...

Yeah, I know... I feel kinda like Bevis & Butthead here... "Look, he said 'Probe'! Heh! heh! Heh!".

I knew some Crapos in Alpena MI. they pronounced it cray-po. In Ohio, an instructor at a local college was named Pigg, which he insisted was Pijj though a Floridian named Dave Hogg went with the way it looks. In obits, I've seen Vanilla Fudge and Pink Oliphant.
Sometimes the names are a bit tragic. A registrar for a Columbus OH Head Start program asked the mother of a beautiful little girl what she was called. Mom said what sounded like Jon-a-ray. Asked to spell it, she replied "Gonorrhea", which she must have seen on a poster or brochure at a prenatal clinic.

"A registrar for a Columbus OH Head Start program asked the mother of a beautiful little girl what she was called. Mom said what sounded like Jon-a-ray. Asked to spell it, she replied "Gonorrhea", which she must have seen on a poster or brochure at a prenatal clinic."

And you heard this story where, exactly? Were you there when this happened, or did you hear it DIRECTLY from the registrar there?

There are people, name geeks, who have spent valuable hours trying to track down even ONE child with a name like "Vagina", "Female", "Orangejello", or "Gonorrhea". To my knowledge, none of them have been successful yet - and still we hear these same stories told from cities all around the country. You'd think there'd be so many of them it'd be worse than Jennifer!

So seriously, if you can prove this child exists, you can make some researchers very happy. Otherwise, I'm going to assume it's an urban legend and direct you to Snopes.

I managed to find someone with the surname of Smigol (pronounced like Smegol, the obsessive and possessed hobbit with multiple personality disorder) running for senate. Needless to say he did not get elected but if he did i could see him crouching up and saying "We wantsss the healthcare bill. Yes presious we wantsss it." on national television.

You're right, Uly. I used to be good at crap detection and am a Snopes fan, but 4 years away from working regularly with urban legends may have blunted my senses.

I had a second hand report. My informant was the spouse of a Head Start worker. He told me that registrars always worked in pairs because of the need to verify the correct spelling of names among the diverse ethnic groups in Columbus. His wife was on the team that encountered the name. Unfortunately, I've lost track of both people and cannot verify the report. Though my informant was generally truthful, it's possible his wife was tugging below his patella, gulling him and then me.

I am chastened. I appreciate your calling this to may attention. I need to work on some rusting skills. Thanks.

No problem.

This sort of story bugs me because it's often tied into racist or class lines - as in your version where the family is signing up for Head Start.

It's not just a funny story, it's a funny story about Those People who can't be trusted to name their own children. So I get a little... uh... vehement.

Just had to throw in here that as a political campaign worker I didn't notice an authority line. So this Crapo is probably illegal. Eh, made me laugh.

I had to add these 3:

 I work for a double decker tour bus company, we have a driver, who's last name is Hung. I when I work with him I like to say "Hi, I'm your tour guide and downstairs your driver is Hung." He's Asian and I had to explane to him that it's not a bad thing. (I've never told the bus his first name is Tran and culturally his last name is said first.) Thank god he's a great guy and has a sense of humor.

Nobody mentioned Ralph Lauren? His real last name is Lifschitz but nobody wants that on their pants or underwear. His daughter Dylan owns an enormous candy store in Manhattan, buy would you buy something from "Lifschitz's Candy Bar?"

Also my best friend's last name is Colon. In Spanish it's pronounced "Cologne". His usual joke is "That's because I can be a real A--hole."

I'm trying to imagine back to the ancient times when they're assigning last names... "Okay, Smith... you're a blacksmith, right? King? You're the... well.. you know... and uh, what's that on your shoe? Ah, yeah... you're Crapo!"