Stencil and I have tried top give our cats "respectable" names, mostly Irish and Russian writers. It doesn't quite work out, though. Vladimir (Mayakovski) turned out to be the runt of his litter and much too small for such a big name. He has thus been known as Boober for the last 14 years. Occasionally, he is Mr. Tubbs, referring to his one-time girth (he is an elder kitty, now, and it thus fairly slender these days) and his love of all things bathtub related. Sam (Beckett) is, of course, Sammy most often, but he is also The Samster, Samicus, Sam-sam and another dozen variations on the theme. As he is now a bit senile (working on his 19th year, he is quite sound in body, but mentally, well, he never was the sharpest knife in the drawer; time has not helped the situation), he is often called Ding-bat and Dim Bulb. Lev (Davidovich Brontstein) has more names than I can count. You'd think he could keep such a nice, neat name such as Lev without the need for a long list of nicknames. Isn't the case, of course, but you would think that. Leviticus and Levin Beauty (a beauty supply chain) are probably the names he gets called most (well, no, that would be "Shut-the-f***-up-you-stupid-cat," but won't count that as an official name in polite company). Oscar (Wilde) is the only one without a million nicknames. I don't know why. Mayuko, most recent addition, was a name that broke with our literary tradition. Mayuko was named after the Japanese actress Mayuko Tanaka....And then we found out Mayuko was a boy (in our defense, he is a pixie-bob and they reach sexual maturity much later than the average cat); now he is know mostly at Guppy. The naming of cats is a difficult business, indeed.
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Vladimir (Mayakovski) turned out to be the runt of his litter and much too small for such a big name. He has thus been known as Boober for the last 14 years. Occasionally, he is Mr. Tubbs, referring to his one-time girth (he is an elder kitty, now, and it thus fairly slender these days) and his love of all things bathtub related.
Sam (Beckett) is, of course, Sammy most often, but he is also The Samster, Samicus, Sam-sam and another dozen variations on the theme. As he is now a bit senile (working on his 19th year, he is quite sound in body, but mentally, well, he never was the sharpest knife in the drawer; time has not helped the situation), he is often called Ding-bat and Dim Bulb.
Lev (Davidovich Brontstein) has more names than I can count. You'd think he could keep such a nice, neat name such as Lev without the need for a long list of nicknames. Isn't the case, of course, but you would think that. Leviticus and Levin Beauty (a beauty supply chain) are probably the names he gets called most (well, no, that would be "Shut-the-f***-up-you-stupid-cat," but won't count that as an official name in polite company).
Oscar (Wilde) is the only one without a million nicknames. I don't know why.
Mayuko, most recent addition, was a name that broke with our literary tradition. Mayuko was named after the Japanese actress Mayuko Tanaka....And then we found out Mayuko was a boy (in our defense, he is a pixie-bob and they reach sexual maturity much later than the average cat); now he is know mostly at Guppy.
The naming of cats is a difficult business, indeed.