One of my biggest pet peeves these days is the naming hurricanes after good people. Can someone tell me why the US government would name a terribly destructive natural disaster after a famous war hero and great president? If the National Hurricane Center wants to use names to identify hurricanes, wouldn't it be better to limit the choice to negative appellations like Hitler, Tojo, or Stalin?
Or to bring the list up to date, how about Hurricane Osama, Castro, Kim Jong, or Hussein?
This year’s list is pretty safe with American and Latin names: Arthur, Bertha, Cristobal, Dolly, Edouard, Fay, Gustav, Hanna, Ike, Josephine, Kyle, Laura, Marco, Nana, Omar, Paloma, Rene, Sally, Teddy, Vicky, and Wilfred.
Notice that the names alternative between male and female. The National Weather Service began naming hurricanes in 1953, following the naval tradition of naming ships after female names. In 1979, in a nod to gender equality, male names were inserted.
But the government agency tries to be politically sensitive. I notice they avoided this year names such as Barrack or John…
Why don’t they ever call one Lucifer?
A friend of mine suggested the nicknames of strippers like Bunny, Cherri, or Bambi….
Or how about naming hurricanes after pet dogs with names like Jughead, Bluto, Klutz, or Boo Boo?
Or just plain words with bad connotations like Rage, Hostile, or Nighmare?
How about calling the next one Hurricane Hobo?
On a more serious note, one of my friends has a daughter named Katrina. She has had to endure painful reminders from her friends since 2004. It was so bad my friend didn’t even want to talk about it.
Imagine if the big three networks were suddenly put in charge of naming hurricanes? I’m sure one of the first names would be Hurricane Sarah...
