Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Words that make me cringe, part 12

David McKay
My name is very common. In the 1950s it was the most common name in Scotland, I'm told. During the past 50 years or so, I've discovered that there was an Australian racing car driver with my name and that John Farnham's first record producer was a David Mackay [who also composed the theme music for the British TV series Bread, and arranged As Time Goes By for the Judi Dench-Geoffrey Palmer TV series].

On coming to Bathurst, I saw that one of the ophthalmologists at the sickeyeatrist place we go to was called David McKay, though he now practised in Orange. Then, when I went for a consultation, the eye doctor had a dairy farmer's notes and not mine, beause he also shared my name. One morning, he and I were both at the eye place at the same time, and when I thought my name was being called out, another man jumped up and went into the room with the eye doc. Didn't get to meet him, but.

And we called our youngest son, David, fulfilling my wife Joan's desire to have a little redhead called David. [Justin mised out on this, because he was born with dark hair and didn't meet that criterion.]

I can't copyright the name, and I have to live with the above geezers sharing it. But what makes me cringe is the American bloke who lives in Australia who founded the Jesus Christians, who specialise in donating kidneys. I think donating kidneys is a great idea, but to make it a condition of being a Christian is wacko.

And I think it is quite different from a person choosing to give a kidney to someone they know, because in that situation it is done out of love and not some misguided religious duty.

At least this David likes to be called Dave, which I eschew. However, unlike the other geezers above [excepting of course, our Nug, aka David] he pronounces it the same way I do, whereas most people make it rhyme with sky.

1 comment:

Gordon Cheng said...

It's interesting finding out who you are. Apparently in my spare time I work in Japan and design humanoid robots.