My family calls me Kass. That derived from a phrase my older sister, Kris taunted me with, and yes, my parents like the "K" sound - my other sister's name is Carolyn and my Mom's name is Carol - kinda reminds you of that old song, "K-k-k, Katie?" doesn't it? In fact, my mom used to stutter and get mixed up calling us. Anyway, back to the "Kass" derivition - Kris's taunt was, "Kathroom, the bathroom." This morphed into "Kassroom, the bassroom, shortened to Kass. Later, I was Lady, the Maid(y), who makes the bed and plays the violin" - which morphed into our own special pronunciation and language, "Led, the Med, who mecks the bed and plehs the vul-en." But I digress. This has nothing to do with the no-longer silent "K."
When I was looking for a blog name, I thought of "The Silent K." I'm intrigued by the use of K in these words: knockwurst, knapsack, knot, knee, knead, knoll, knives, knob and knitting. I also like knocking on doors that open. I like the idea of knightly knaves wearing knickers having a knack for knutty knowledge. I like the idea of being known. All of these nifty 'N' sounding words include a K that is silent. Only problem: "The Silent K" blog title was taken. So I became no longer silent (which is strange to Pom Poms, Marie and my family that reads my blog - they have KNEVER known me to be silent - maybe I should have titled my blog "No Silent 'K' Here"). The End. what's your story?
And how happy I am you have found a successful venue for your words. I love reading them, and find them infinitely interesting. It's never the "same-old,same-old" on your blog.
ReplyDeleteKeep proclaiming loudly.
What a cool story. It's funny how nicknames morph into other names and sayings. For years I was "punzy" - from Rapunzel - odd, seeing as I had short hair most of my childhood, but apparently I liked to wear tights on my head and make believe I had long flowing locks! Now I'm known as "Pooh" or "Rae", or "Ray" depending on whether it's friends or family. My gran used to call me "Razor".
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun read! Now that you mention all those "k" words that start with an "n" sound makes me realize why I have a hard time thinking of "k" words when I play scrabble.
ReplyDeleteCannot imagine you silent. I thought you named your blog because you were tired of being silent and this was the venue you chose. Well, maybe you weren't silent, but careful. However, I'm glad the K is no longer silent.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful story - your identity, your origins, the beauty of the silent 'k'. Who'd have thought it.
ReplyDeleteI have a sister in law whose name is Kathryn, though we call her Kathy. I love the spelling here and Kathryn Harrison who wrote The Kiss is one of my much admired, favorite writers.
I love the way you play with words here, Kass, all those silent and alternatively noisy ks.
The letter 'k' is either silent or else very 'hard'. It is symmetrical on the one hand, all straight lines, and yet it too sits at an angle , at least bits of it do.
I love to play around with words and letters like this.
What a wonderful post. Thanks K.
From E.
That is a lovely story, full of interest for me. I have a special fascination for names - probably because I am so bad at thinking up titles.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very entertaining post! Funny how nicknames (or is it knicknames ;) stick. My sisters are known as Bug and Chocolate; I am called (simply and rather inelegantly) P. My children to this day bear the silly names I called them when they were young. All of which has nothing to do with the name of my blog which is called after my book of the same title.
ReplyDeleteDitto!
ReplyDeleteNo one in my family has a nickname or any sweet diminutive. My name is James as was father’s. His father's was John. Had I had a son he would have been called James but only because that was the only boy’s name my wife and I could agree upon. As child I was called Jimmy – very Scottish – and my family still call me Jimmy, my brother and sister calling me ‘our Jimmy’. At secondary school the teacher’s all called me James. I’d had the nickname ‘Prof’ at primary school but since there was another kid at the academy called ‘the Pro’ mine fell into disuse. At work I was invariably Jim. One family friend actually called me Jamie but it never caught on.
ReplyDeleteAll the protagonist’s names in my novels begin with ‘j’ – Jonathan, in the first two; Jim, in the third; both brothers in the fourth are called John and, if I ever finish my current book, my first female lead will be called Jen. The reason? They’re all proxies for me. I’m in all the other characters too but you always feel a special closeness with your main player, at least I do.
Marie - Thanks for the encouragement. Now that I've started on this blog thing, there's no stopping me. I enjoyed seeing John's wood-working skills so much on your blog!
ReplyDeleteRachel - I love the nickname Punzy and the story of wearing tights on your head. A whole new twist to Pippy Longstockings. A children's book with illustrations immediately comes to mind.
vivienne - I'm glad I may have opened up new possibilities for your scrabble playing - one of my favorite games. I dare say, all people who love to write, love scrabble. Thinking of words is a great hobby.
Christella - You're pretty intuitive. I actually had a whole other post composed about my silence (as a result of divorce), but it was so yesterday and something I don't want to dwell on, that I went this direction instead. There are still things I keep silent about (which, to refer to your last post and comments) cause a lot of chaos in my mind. I feel like I would have to start a whole new blog (a very dark one) to deal with these issues..and no one would want to read it - OR the people who did like it would be all morose and stuck in the mire of their own determined doom.
Elisabeth - Trust you to come up with a whole new way of looking at things. It's like being in a writer's group to read your reactions. It instantly stirs my creative juices.
Elroy - I have no idea what you said. I'll be back to you after I emply my google translate.
Tag - Are you ditto-ing Elroy, or what everyone said?
Jim - That was interesting. I love reading about the background of people's names and nicknames and I'm interested to know of your use of J names in your novels. I used the name Karen in my screenplay because she was my proxy (and acted in ways that I was unable to initiate).
Elroy - Banquet and one incarcerated 豐富 Eternal Life, manned 卻寧 挨餓 accepted. Uh....O.K., I accept too. - Assuming this is the derivation of your name.
ReplyDeletewords I've never thought of in regard to "K" ... interesting history
ReplyDeleteNice post dear Kass,
ReplyDeleteThe story behind my blog’s name…. well, for me was a matter of something that could represent what I want to express through my short stories and reflections about life. When I write I do try not to be judgmental or take sides, I try to be an observant and provoke people to think… the ultimate goal: To Embrace who we are for what we are and love ourselves for that!!..
Before we point a finger we should try to wear the other person shoes, then we will understand, which does not imply to accept but yes to respect the other person’s right to be. So, there we are, what a better name that: Embracing who we are ;-)
loveNlight
Gabi
An interesting post and a pointer to the rest of us who have chosen blog names whose origins and meanings aren't immediately apparent. I used to have a brief explanation beneath the title, but it didn't fit in with the custom header.
ReplyDelete