Aug022006
What’s In A Name? Where Do I Begin …
Filed under Uncategorized by nick pappas at 10:03 pm
WARNING: Some of the material contained in this blog entry may not be suitable for children.
OK, that may be a bit of an overstatement, but it does seem like a blog item about someone who either does or doesn’t have an, um, unusual name deserves some kind of cautionary note.
It all started last week after we published a series of photos in our Encore section of people having a good time at Haluwa in Nashua as part of our efforts to "capture the hot spots around the area" and put more names and faces into The Telegraph and onto our Web site at www.nashuatelegraph.com/capture. One of the photos depicted four people sitting at a table sipping on a scorpion bowl.
So far, so good.
Shortly before 4 o’clock that afternoon, I received an e-mail from the editor of that section apologizing for not picking up on what appeared to be a questionable name of someone with the first name of "Jack" in one of the photo captions.
To be honest, I didn’t get too alarmed at first, since Jen O’Callaghan, our wonderful Encore editor, uses the word "sorry" the way six-time champ Takeru Kobayashi devours hot dogs at the annual Fourth of July hot-dog-eating competition on Coney Island
Still, if nothing else, her e-mail piqued my curiosity, so I reached for my copy of Encore on my desk and quickly scanned the captions until I found someone named Jack. And there it was.
Mehoff.
Now I’ll admit I can be as naive as the next guy from time to time, but I honestly must say I didn’t get it, at least at first. (For what it’s worth, Jen didn’t get it at first, either.)
Mehoff?
Finally, and somewhat embarrassingly, it sunk in after I came up with the brilliant idea of actually putting the two words together.
Jack Mehoff.
Oh. Now I get it.
(If you happen to be as clueless as I am, here’s a hint: Drop the H.)
Before admitting we had been had, and given my numerous years of training as a skeptical journalist, I then went into a temporary state of denial. To wit: Maybe that is his real name?
So I steered my browser to Switchboard, clicked on "Find a Person" and typed in "Jack Mehoff" to see how many people in the country were listed under that name.
Lo and behold, there wasn’t just one Jack Mehoff, there were 11 Jack Mehoffs! And three of them lived in neighboring Massachusetts to boot.
Vindication? Maybe we weren’t played for fools after all? That’s what I thought, too.
Until, that is, I started looking at some of the addresses listed under those names.
First there was this one: 69 Intercourse Way, Bird in Hand, N.J.
And then this: 69 All Day, Millbury, Mass.
And finally: 8775 Dildo Lane, Pussyville, Ala.
(No, there’s no such place in Alabama. And, yes, I checked.)
To add insult to injury, several days later I got an envelope in the mail from a reader that contained a copy of the Encore page in question with the name underlined (twice) and big red letters under the photo that read: "YET ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF POOR PROOF READING ….!"
OK, so I’m pretty much at the point that I think we were the subject of a practical joke. I admit it.
Until I’m definitely told otherwise, however, I’m still going to hold out at least a little hope that there really is a Jack Mehoff out there somewhere. The same Jack Mehoff who was at Haluwa one night last month.
But please do me a favor. If you know for a fact one way or the other, please give me a call so you can put me out of my misery.
Just dial 1-800-NIT-WITT.
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