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PaperclipPerfector  17d ago (text post)   34198 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 28, 2024

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(Meta: why is it that Trump is rarely referred to by first name?)

Politicians tend to get referred to by their catchiest non-ambiguous name.

"Trump" is much less common than "Donald" as a name. "Hillary" is common but "Clinton" becomes ambiguous with bill. "Walz" is less common than "Tim." "Kamala" is less common than "Harris." "Biden" is less common than "Joe." "Vance" and "J.D." are both uncommon, but "Vance" is more iconic. I admit I don't know why we got "obama" instead of "barack.

I admit I don't know why we got "obama" instead of "barack.

I think if both names are memorable it will default to the last name, but there aren't a lot of other immediate examples. Going back in history there are a couple of other outliers though. Eisenhower was often referred to as Ike, by the public and his campaign itself. John F Kennedy was JFK, and his brother RFK. Ted Kennedy was always "Ted Kennedy", the whole name. Johnson was LBJ, both following along from his predecessor and having a very common last name. Its possible there were more of these pre-WWI but we've forgotten collectively about them.

I admit I don’t know why we got “obama” instead of “barack”

Because Obama’s first presidential run started in 2007 and 2008 when there was still a lot of residual War on Terror fear and suspicion of Muslims. “Obama” sounds African, “Barack” sounds suspiciously Middle Eastern.

suspiciously Middle Eastern

"Obama" and "Osama" sounded pretty similar to me the first time I heard about the former.

The latter, of course, was one of the most famous Middle Easterners especially at the time.

I'm surprised the conversation has gotten this far without anyone bringing up that his middle name is "Hussein." As in, the same name as Saddam Hussein, who was overthrown by the US at the beginning of the war in Iraq.

America elected a man named "Barack Hussein Osama Obama" in 2008. This is like France electing a man named "Hans Goering Hetler" in 1953. I don't have a problem with Obama's name, but I find it genuinely hilarious he managed to win the presidency at the time that he did with the name that he has.

“Obama” sounds African

Or Japanese.

“Barack” sounds suspiciously Middle Eastern.

FWIW prior to Obama’s presidential campaign, probably the best-known “Barack” (by American English pronunciation, not spelling) was Ehud Barak, former prime minister of Israel and Labor Party leader. He is indeed Middle Eastern, but seeing as he’s an Israeli Jew, I would hardly say “suspiciously” so.

Barack is not a commonly used first or last name for Israeli Jews. It’s primarily an Arab name. The former prime minister’s family name was the Lithuanian “Brog” and when the family Hebrewized that name it came out as Barak.

A case of Brog assimilation, so to speak

Obama was also a relatively young guy with relatively little experience, whose campaign image was serious and professional rather than folksy and relatable. In that context, going by one's surname fits better.

Good point! That suggests another axis, actually-- whether politicians needed to look friendlier or more professional. People hated Hillary on a personal level so she needed to look friendlier. Trump needed to look respectable. Vance is a relatively young guy, so the desire for respectability makes sense. Though that theory sort of breaks down for Walz (who's deliberately trying to make himself look like an extra normal midwestern dude) and Biden (who had a lot of "Joe" related nicknames, e.g. "diamond joe," "sleepy joe," but also biden-related nicknames -- "brandon"/"dark brandon.")

Walz is running as a more down-to-earth and male accessory to Kamala, so he is fitting the role the campaign needs to balance out her flaws with that. I'm curious as to whether his run for governor of Minnesota had lots of 'coach Walz' type messaging.

I think "Obama" is a lot more fun to say. Don't underestimate that part of it, you gotta weave the word into a whole bunch of phrases that have to sound good enough to say on TV, to your friends and pretty much any conversation setting, having a hard to pronounce name is a hindrance.

This is why people with long or hard to pronounce names that stick around get acronyms. Nobody wants to say Fitzgerald, and John and Kennedy are too unspecific, so he's JFK.

And sometimes you transcend the banality of your first name through annoying orthography: T. J. Kaczynski (better known for other work) is "Ted". Because who can remember czy in the right order?

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