Name
fun and games the
By Phil Guthrie, MAK15 baby
There
are very few things in life that are more exciting than the expansion of a family. We celebrate weddings, births, and the discovery of long-lost cousins( unless they turn out to be jerks). There’ s a similar parallel in the lifespan of a PCV, short though that life may be. We celebrate the arrival of a new group often, if not always, in hopes of finding fresh prospects for romantic conquest. We celebrate weddings of PCVs( Karli, I’ m looking at you, congratulations!). And now we get to celebrate a new, somewhat tinier member of the Peace Corps family: Nadica’ s child. It’ s my understanding that the most difficult part about being a parent is naming the creature, giving birth to it and raising it is apparently a breeze.* In the spirit of solidarity between Peace Corps Volunteers and Peace Corps Staff, I thought we could all join together to help Nadica out and pick a name for our recently arrived friend.
In a shocking display of trust in Peace Corps Volunteers, the recently pregnant half of our Program Management duo has agreed to honor the outcome of this poll and name her child whatever we collectively decide, with the current name merely a placeholder until our poll results are collected ** Before you start submitting your suggestions for names, though, let’ s lay out a few ground rules. First, the kid’ s Macedonian, so let’ s stick with things that he or she can pronounce. Keep the“ th” s to a mini-
mum, realize that all“ r” s are going to be rolled, and let’ s just pretend“ w” isn’ t even a letter. Second, we’ ll only consider actual names. While I agree that it would be hilarious if Nadica’ s daughter were named VRF Georgieva, that’ s probably a bit unfair, we don’ t want the child to be loathed from birth. Third, foods aren’ t names. An apple is a fruit, not a child. The only exceptions to this rule are Ajvar or Rakija, because, let’ s face it, no one could get angry with someone named Ajvar.
Other than that, you’ ve got free rein! Get thinking and be creative. Submit your suggestions to pauzamag @ gmail. com, the winner will be posted in the next issue. You can also find my ideas for potential names in this issue’ s crossword puzzle. Happy christening!
* Note: This is definitely true, I looked it up.
** Note: This is definitely not true, but I figure if we all pretend it is, we might guilt her into doing it.
Winter 2013 Crossword Puzz
46 – Pauza Magazine