[ubercynicmeister]

I have been talking to people in my local area (and will shortly be doing a whole lot more), but this brought me up short. A friend of mine's daughter is a clueless Yuppie who married a son-of-a-banker Clueless Yuppie. They are both elitists, bye the way. Pleasantly mannered elitists, who will remind you of your lowliness and inferior status but only in a way that is quite courteous.

Recently, she gave birth to twins. They have named one (honest, I swear I am not making this up): Ptarmigan.

Yup, Ptarmigan. Now....for those who don't know, a Ptarmigan is a type of Arctic Chicken of the grouse family. Alternative spellings are "Tarmagan", "Termagant" or "Tarmachan" (Gaelic).

So they have just named their daughter "Chicken". Or Grouse ("grouse" being an old word for "complain"). But it gets worse. If one does a search of various online dictionaries, here one notices the following results:

Definition: biddy

Synonyms: bag, battle-ax, beldam, biddy, crone, fishwife, fury, gorgon, harpy, harridan, Jezebel, Medusa, ogress, shrew, slattern, sorceress, hag, virago, vixen, witch

So they have just saddled their daughter with a name that alternatively means : Arctic Chicken; grouse (as in complain); crone; harridan; shrew (as in Shakespeare's Taming Of The Shrew) and virago. It would have been better if they'd named their kid "toilet" or "latrine" or something of that nature. At least it would have been easier to spell for the poor kid.

Now, my problem is: How the heck does one explain all this to two very-rich-but-totally-clueless Yuppies who obviously are utterly unconnected with reality...worse, how does one inform them about Peak Oil? I mean...if they want to name their daughter something so...stupid...how would one...y'know...um, ahhh...get something as confronting as Peak Oil across to them?

Anyone? I'm open to any suggestions as to how to do this, because this pair have utterly flummoxed me.

I've said it before, I'll say it again: some people should not be allowed to have children.

[mgibbons19]

Don't bother. Let the market explain it for you in a couple years.

[Tyler_JC]

First off, I love the Getty quote at the end. He's one of my favorite industrialists.

Second, you can't help them. There are some people who are hopeless mental cases. Naming their daughter after a chicken alone makes them hopeless.

There are simply some people that can't be helped. Better to focus on the ones that offer something to humanity.

If these unfortunate people happen to be your best friends, please accept my condolences. You might want to hit the Best Friend Market for a better trade up.

I know people just like you have described. And the only option is to distance yourself from them. Or preferably, make them pay for dinner enough times that they'll stop inviting you. (at least you get some free lobster out of the relationship)

[coyote]

Uber, I agree with the other posters. It's difficult enough getting ordinary and even intelligent people to grasp the enormity of Peak Oil. Some causes are hopeless. Choose your battles.

[Barbara]

I foresee that Ptarmigan poor girl transforming them into soylent green in few years.

[rogerhb]

Ptarmigan is also a secure comms system used by the British Army.

[PrairieMule]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ubercynicmeister', ' ') They are both elitists, bye the way. Pleasantly mannered elitists, who will remind you of your lowliness and inferior status but only in a way that is quite courteous.
.

[green_achers]

I have just reread your opening post and it's definitely not clear why you're "grousing." You seem to be hinting this has something to do with peak oil, maybe they don't agree with you about it? Anyway, the rest of your post paints you as a worse "elitist" than I can imagine they are from your post.

As far as the name for the girl, other than the fact that it's unusual and she will probably suffer like hell in grade school over it, I see nothing wrong with it. Have you ever hunted grouse? It's not as challenging as doves, but can still leave you respecting them. They are noble wild creatures and as worthy of a name as any.

[Ludi]

Oh, I don't know...it's kind of cute. After all, people name their kids Wren, Raven, Wolf, etc. What's wrong with Ptarmigan?

[Tyler_JC]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', 'O')h, I don't know...it's kind of cute. After all, people name their kids Wren, Raven, Wolf, etc. What's wrong with Ptarmigan?

[Ludi]

Wow, you have THAT many reasons why you're glad I'm not your mother?



I will never be anyone's mother, so don't worry your little head about it, honey.

[Tyler_JC]

Don't worry, I'm just messing with you Ludi.

It's only maybe like 5 reasons.

[LadyRuby]

Unfortunately, I'd also say don't waste your breath. Several people I've tried to talk to about this look at me like I'm mentally ill, like I have serious problems. I do, but they do too, they just don't realize it yet!!

With people I really care about (my siblings) I've tried to present it seriously but fairly gently by sending BBC articles and the like rather than sending them to an alarmist type of website. If they are open to it, they will take notice and start looking around more on their own.

[sameu]

last weekend I had dinner with a couple of friends
and a friend of mine who is 'in the know' said at the end of the evening: explain to the others what peak oil is all about

so I did my best to explain it very simple, and to draw an as complete and correct picture as possible

not really denial reactions but more an ah yes well, we'll see

Telling people about po is just a first small step, it takes weeks or months of reading and thinking about it to really get what it's all about, to see it's importance, to grasp the possible ramifications

so no one will be at the same level of knowledge and realisation of the ramifications as me or you who has been reading and hanging around these sites like peakoil.com, latoc, peakoildebunked etc etc; just because you give them an introduction of half an hour

you can introduce them to the subject, and in fact that's the only thing you can really do
the rest is up to them

[ubercynicmeister]

Hi all, and thanks for the responses!

Hi Tyler
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Tyler_JC', 'F')irst off, I love the Getty quote at the end. He's one of my favorite industrialists.

[ubercynicmeister]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('green_achers', 'I') have just reread your opening post and it's definitely not clear why you're "grousing." You seem to be hinting this has something to do with peak oil, maybe they don't agree with you about it? Anyway, the rest of your post paints you as a worse "elitist" than I can imagine they are from your post.

[crapattack]

Does it matter to you that they know? Why do you have to be the one to tell them? It's going to be obvious to everyone soon enough, and these winners sound like they'll just try to make it sound like it was their idea to begin with. As for the daughter, well, I suspect her name isn't going to be her worst problem.

[rogerhb]

On the positive side if there is to be a die off it's nice if the clueless people join the queue first......

[crapattack]

I'm coming to the conclusion more and more that people basically suck.
This is against my nature really, maybe I'm just having a down day. I have so freakin' had it up to here with the "they'll think of something" crowd - it's so depressing to be running up against this with my friends. The more I hear it the more depressed I get and now they want to 'cheer me up' by talking about all the wonderful new inventions they saw on tv. It makes me want to saw my ears off.

[rushdy]

I have made one attempt, and one only to inform my closest friends. Those who deserve to be part of the future will be. If peak oil impacts on this, I have given them the knowledge, and they can do as they please.