A pithy comic strip about life, love, lust and puthy cats.

Est. 1985

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What’s In a Name?

By Jimmy Johnson

Buy the new book, "Beaucoup Arlo & Janis!"Today's "Arlo & Janis!"

My grandmother, who lived with us when I was growing up, actually would ask me this. Of course, it sounded idiotic and embarrassing to me then, but now that I think back it was a more interesting and probably more accurate term than “dating.”

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264 responses to “What’s In a Name?”

  1. Galliglo in Ohio Avatar
    Galliglo in Ohio

    Oh gosh, Rick… I guess when I threw out three, I was thinking of 1st, just a member of office staff, 2nd a income tax preparer, and 3rd financial administrator. Oh, and there was the call center worker, but that was only three months – until I earned a $500 signing bonus!
    But I have worked in several industries… A university… A political subdivision where I got to meet a lot of local, state and national politicians (where I learned TOO much about politics!)… Customer service with a national retailer… Real estate sales and insurance… A commercial general contractor (I was assistant treasurer there)… A small contractor (sloppy work and not overburdened with ethics – I got out of there!)… A car dealership…mental health center. And in between I worked on installing accounting software programs and training employees and free lance accounting and office organization consultant. Gosh – what a trip down memory lane! Loved all my jobs (except two)… Loved my coworkers… Learned everything I could, and then moved on.
    I have not had an exotic life, but I have lived!

  2. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    Galliglo in Ohio, like Heinlein said, “…specialization is for insects.”.

  3. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    Debbe πŸ˜‰ I could still dance to this one without breaking a sweat…depending on my dance partner, of course. πŸ˜‰

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBpYgpF1bqQ

  4. Charlotte in NH Avatar
    Charlotte in NH

    Trucker Ron, and Galliglo, I admire the life experiences you have had. You have really grabbed hold of life.

    Debbe, thank you for asking. You’ve probably been sound asleep for several hours — I hope you sleep well. I’ve been kind of “hibernating”, that fall I took onto the concrete cellar floor kind of took the starch out of me, but I’m recovering well and have been driving the car, which I hadn’t for four weeks. Called my dentist about a lost crown, as I assumed, but to my dismay she reminded me that it was my own tooth, original equipment that I’ve had for more years than I care to say. It’s an upper front tooth, embarassing to talk to people with a big gap. It’s too far gone to save and it broke right off; I need a root canal before she can put a crown on it. So they called the specialist, a women I’ve gone to 3 or 4 times. Her office said they had time to see me, so now I was unexpectedly driving in traffic two plus miles to the next town over. The driving went fine and so did the root canal. A long time in the chair but not too uncomfortable, and Dr. Steinert is so expert, it didn’t hurt a bit and was all completed in that one visit. The only painful part is paying well over a thousand dollars, and the crown will cost about that much too. I’m grateful that Chris left me well provided for.

  5. Charlotte in NH Avatar
    Charlotte in NH

    P. S. to Dear Debbe, I am glad your weather is warmer, although the virus is worrisome. Hope all will go well. Unusually fair and warm here too, good for getting the dental work and Monday I plan to do some more errands that have waited too long.

    Love from Charlotte Christian (my real name).

  6.  Avatar

    Jackie would take some doing to list all the things I have done because I began my first self employment in 1956 at age 12 with my own custom gift wrapping service, specializing in oil field contractors, way more than baby sitting which I did as well. I did some custom Christmas decorating way back then too and did that off and on until.about six years ago.

    Sold my first art work at age 13 but never did that much except all those window display pieces I kept doing up until about 10 years ago. If I still did that I’d do Arlo and Janis for Valentine’s and rip off Jimmy. Last ones I did were Betty Boop and Garfield probably but I did originals too. I did get paid to cartoon but not after college except these big foam core cartoons and displays.

    Let’s see, I am at age 14 so far but kept doing this for money until quite recently.

  7.  Avatar

    Ghost, yours and Debbes dancing skills leave me a little awe struck. I missed that. My late husband liked to dance to big band sounds when I loved rock and roll and then he stopped dancing altogether, so I did too. That seems to keep telling me Priscilla Presley and I had more in common than I’d have previously thought?

    Which ties in to my thought on Rick’s comment on rock and roll super stars. Unfortunately Elvis lived long enough to become a parody of himself. He had a great talent and voice that could have been better used. I shudder to think what he’d have been, had he lived. He made fun of himself for money even when young.

  8.  Avatar

    Charlotte I am always so glad to see you on Facebook and here.
    My caps are postponed again, they are down at dentist’s office forever but he won’t install with the Plavix and the carotid problem so it is good thing his Temps are so good, no one can tell. Good dental work costs more than heart surgery and plastic surgery combined.

    But missing teeth or damaged teeth are both obvious and embarrassing. And can kill people far easier than they realize.

  9. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    Millionaire Widow Lady was an especially good ballroom dancer. I remember once at a Mardi Gras ball (any excuse to wear a tux) when we literally danced the night away. She was incredibly light on her feet, even more amazingly so when I later found how much her long, strapless beaded ball gown weighed. (Don’t ask.) Less formally, four of my fellow managers (all female, of course) are good dancers, and one in particular is an especially good “fit” when we dance. And all are good “fast” dancers as well, which is both fun and great exercise.

    Do I act my age? No, of course not.

  10.  Avatar

    I don’t know Ghost, you and I don’t seem to have anything in common. Although I do love men in tuxes, most of mine have been pouring wine in my glass, I never cared enough about the Houston social scene to participate.

    Mardi Gras ball gowns could be so heavy chain mail weighed less. Beads are heavy even small ones sehete is a sown into sheer fabric. I wonder whatever became of some of my stuff like that?

    Unless I wore a lace tunic I’d be hard pressed to come up with a cocktail party ensemble.. Lake living never necessitates one. In fact I doubt there is a social “scene ” here. Far cry from New n Orleans where Mardi Gras parties and balls began before Christmas and Houston where there weren’t enough Saturdays in a year for the charity balls.

    Do your rich Widow ladies need a social pedigree and invitations?

  11. curmudgeonly ex-professor Avatar
    curmudgeonly ex-professor

    Good to see a newsy message, Charlotte. Did we know of your fall? I don’t recall it herein, but could have missed it although I check in several times per day. Such a fall as you describe might have been a lot more serious; I give thanks that such wasn’t the case.

    My dental work is now north of $16K; I wonder if I will be able to chew before July 4th – no, I am not kidding. If you’d like to compare notes, say so and I’ll email you!

  12. Rick in Shermantown, Ohio Avatar
    Rick in Shermantown, Ohio

    Galliglo:

    Impressive! ~ far better than mine.

    Your comment about politics reminded me that I once ran for state representative.

    I’m glad I lost.

  13. Debbe Avatar
    Debbe

    Good morning Villagers…..

    My sincerest apologies Rick and TR, I think that’s twice now that I’ve done that….and there’s nothing subliminal about it, it’s just that I’m not exactly Quick Draw McDraw at this time of day.

    And my start of the day at work didn’t help either….I pulled a distressed hen out of her cage, only to have her die in my hands…it really upset me. Then my thoughts went to my Mom. Sigh.

    Miss Charlotte, glad you are getting around much better. And yes, dental work is not cheap. I worry about Ian and the fact his upper front two teeth have had root canals, and if he doesn’t get crowns on them….he will lose his beautiful smile, and his grin.

    Gal, you have been well educated in the field of “jack of all trades AND master of all” πŸ™‚

    For those of you in the south, take cover tomorrow…it doesn’t look good for us up here either.

    Jean….Jonathan found one of my roosters I stashed before they were ‘culled’. His name…Mick, told you I would and I explained to Jonathan why. He is beautiful, and a big boy, what is odd is his feathers are a light goldish color. I left one hen in the cage with him. Maybe we will get a golden egg out of this πŸ™‚

    Mark, loved the video….and Indy Mindy, those boots, wonder what Nancy is up to now.

    Ya’ll have a blessed day

  14. Debbe Avatar
    Debbe

    GR πŸ˜‰ and I will…..and have.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tth-8wA3PdY

    I miss my dancing days, now I get winded.

  15. Galliglo in Ohio Avatar
    Galliglo in Ohio

    Even though I have had a lot of different work experiences – and enjoyed most of them – I do have one regret… financial security. Staying a long time in one or two work environments builds up that retirement equity. I am afraid I went for the here-and-now.

    So, here I am… still working full time +. But – God has always taken care of me and He always will.

  16. Jerry in Florida Avatar
    Jerry in Florida

    For a long time I chased the bigger money now jobs. At about age 40 I finally started working toward retirement. It took a lot of planning with a lot of “what if” included. The single best thing that I did was put a very small monthly fee in a disability insurance policy. That step alone replaced most of the job income that I lost when I retired. That plus my pension and social security (disability) meant that I retired at 59 making about twice what I made when I was working.

  17. Steve From Royal Oak, MI Avatar

    Daughter in law is in labor. I have a weekly sales meeting that hopefully I can quickly get through. My wife and daughter are up there and via text, I got an update from my son before they did! Since it is the first grandchild, I do want to get up to the hospital, but my boss probably doesn’t quite understand why. They have wi-fi so I can continue to work, if necessary.

  18. domaucan1 Avatar
    domaucan1

    I’ve been “absent” from comments lately but still checking in daily. l Not much to say other than my injured elbow has healed nicely and I even have a “new” vehicle, a 2015 Chevy Equinox. It’s quite fancy compared to my last two vehicles, a 1975 Oldsmobile 98 and a 1998 Chevy Blazer. This is “my” first first new vehicle this century. (I have bought two for wifey.)

    I hope the good Lord is as good to all of you as He has been to me. I have been blessed and protected. God bless us everyone.

  19. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    My goal for the day is to walk past a television set without hearing the word “Iowa”. I have no reasonable expectation I will be able to realize that.

  20. emb Avatar
    emb

    Today’s TIP BlogSpot.

    http://thatispriceless.blogspot.com/

    How come that robe is so dazzling white? Did Mary do his laundry? No comment re the blogger’s politics.

    Peace, emb

  21. emb Avatar
    emb

    Solution: avoid turned-on TVs. Only place I encounter them is Sanford Health Bemidji. Fortunately, there are none at the PT gym formerly known as Peak Performance [where I expect to be about noon].

    Peace, emb

  22. TruckerRon Avatar

    There’s a turned-on TV at our local rec center’s exercise room for seniors, but it’s always tuned to ESPN (no choice, that’s how they arranged to get it donated) so when I’m alone there I always turn it off. I much prefer to listen to my iPod; I load it up with podcasts from my favorite NPR shows.

    Actually, I’m a bit of an oddball there–I’m relatively young (many are over 75), appear to be in good health (cardiomyopathy is invisible), and I don’t like to gossip. They’ve mostly learned to ignore me, which allows me to ignore the fact that I’m working up a sweat doing things that I don’t much like to do.

  23. Sideburns Avatar

    For those of you who like Elvis, take a listen to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGhmn2i4DBU It’s the famous Laughing Elvis and if you’ve never heard it, you really should.

  24.  Avatar

    Yes, I like Elvis, no I had not heard that. Is it an out take from Vegas act?

    My long dead aunt and cousin were rich Elvis groupies and headed up a fan group, spent lots of time with Elvis and band in Vegas and touring. Don’t know about aunt but minor cousin dressed and looked like Priscilla in her teens, we figured she was rich toy for the boys, they were very inner circle. Not aunt who took kid along but it was scandal and gossip of family. Ironic thing is the son and grandson looked like Elvis and did impersonations, including coming to aunt’s funeral in costume.

    OK, I am from the south and anything is possible. I have to write the book but maybe it should be a fiction not presented as truth?
    Even when it is true southerners sound weird!

  25. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    Mom just returned from vascular doc. He said ultrasound showed severe blockages in left leg and bad blockages on the right leg. Has ordered CT scan of both legs to be done Wed. He is concerned whether surgical intervention is possible to save the leg. She is to return to him next week after he has time to review the CT scans. I hope he can save it, because I fear if she loses it she will have to go to nursing home.