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[V-Adore]

To drag this thread back onto the previous off-topic tangent:

I can accept both sides of the name-changing argument, but what always confuses me is the assertion that a woman wanting to keep her surname is somehow a selgiraffe, dickish, or "uppity" move. Certainly, you can be a dick about it, much as you can be a dick about everything -- but why is the selgiraffe one here a woman who wants to keep the name she's always had, as opposed to the man who wants her to change it to his? I think this must be tied to the bizarre cultural idea that anything not explicitly or implicitly male-biased is by definition "female-biased." As a blogger whose name I can't remember pointed out, both parties in a marriage keeping their last names is the most strictly equal arrangement imaginable; why is it considered to represent some bias towards the woman?

Basically, what I'm saying here is, regardless of your decision, keeping (or not keeping) your name isn't something you should have to make apologies or excuses for. I have my reasons -- but why should I have to justify a choice that pretty much effects only the signifier of my identity, just because that choice isn't necessarily traditional.

[jaydub]

As a blogger whose name I can't remember pointed out, both parties in a marriage keeping their last names is the most strictly equal arrangement imaginable; why is it considered to represent some bias towards the woman?

But what do you give the kids as last names?  Mom's for girls, Dad's for boys?  Or switch genders?  Or make some sort of bizzare Chimera name out of them?  James & Mary's kids could be Mataville, or Carlin (actually, those sound ok...).  Who else...  Demi & Bruce's kids could be Moorliss, or Willore.  Those sounds appropriately awful.  Instead of hyphenating, Will & Jada's kids could be Pinkith, or Smett.  Let the genealogists puzzle over that.  Especially a few generations down.  Jaden Pinketh hooks up with Rumer Willore and the progeny becomes Herbaceous Pillkere (making sure all grand-paternal roots are honoured - the first name is just me trying to anticipate future naming fads).

[pmcd9]

Why do people get married?

[Nabubrush]

Why do people get married?

So they can annoy someone at home as much as they annoy the folks at work.

[V-Adore]

But what do you give the kids as last names?  Mom's for girls, Dad's for boys?  Or switch genders? 

Presumably you choose what you want and the good Lord will provide. After all, it's not like a child's last name not being identical to one parent's is considered to be an automatic sign of Shameful Harlotry or anything anymore.

However, whatever you do, be damn careful with hypenation/portmanteaus. Speaking as someone whose last name was quite nearly a hyphenated Dutch-German monstrosity, that hypen is a dangerous weapon which can keep your child from ever passing kindergarten.

[theinevitable]

(for those that don't know - and I didn't - Pho is pronounced "fuh").

this reminds me of something. ok.

Korean and chinese are not written in Roman letters.
at some point, westerners started transliterating these languages into roman letters
at the same point, they decided that rather than transliterating the way the words sound, they would deviate randomly from typical pronunciation ("pho is pronounced fuh")

Why? Was there some Korean who learned english and told them? I doubt it. so... why? WHYYYY!?

Best korean restaurant name, as mentioned before: "Pho Sizzle"

[wombat]

Pho is a Vietnamese dish, not Korean.  Vietnamese is in fact written in the Latin alphabet.  Vietnamese has vowels that don't exist in European languages, which are represented using diacritics over the Latin vowels. The word Pho ought to have a diacritic over it, to show that it's the unrounded vowel. But diacritics are a bother so it usually gets left out by people typing English.

[CortJstr]

Education.

[Nabubrush]

So "fuh"? Or no? I need to know what the hell to call these places.

[AugustWest]

So "fuh"? Or no? I need to know what the hell to call these places.

Don't get your hopes up.

To quote the Great Angelic Master Li Po (or was it Blister?)

"IT'S ALL CHING CHONG WING WONG."

[theinevitable]

I am so happy that you knew that answer.

Still applies to unreasonable Chinese pronunciations, though.

[KeithHernandez]

Huh.  After 19 years of marriage, I've come to realize that not having to think about certain types of things can be a huge benefit.  I'm glad I don't have to think about my daughters' menstrual issues.  I'm pretty sure Mrs. West is glad she doesn't have to pay much attention to our taxes.  Sharing the burden is pretty nice.

There is a really big difference between sharing burdens with someone and thinking for someone.

[Doc]

Why do people get married?

My favourite answer to this was always Jerry Seinfeld's bit about how people get married because they run out of conversation.

[Carlos del Vaca]

So "fuh"? Or no? I need to know what the hell to call these places.

"Fuh" is correct, but if you say "Fo" none but the meanest language police will hassle you.  It's like "gyro" vs. "yee-ro," one is technically correct but it's been butchered often enough to be accepted.

Also, pho is the best goddamn hangover cure in the universe.

[wombat]

"Fuh" is as close as you're likely to get but yeah, I say "pho" and I always get exactly what I ordered, you know?

There are systematic explanations for why Chinese is transliterated the way it is also, but I've already gone over my quota of linguistics for the week.