The Rising Obesity Tide
Obesity continues to plague the U.S., with nine states now reporting that more than 30% of their population is obese. Read More »
Today in Aptonyms
A well-named plant scientist recently weighed in on the European Commission’s decision to “to allow genetically modified potato varieties to be grown in some European Union countries.” Read More »
Yes, Part II
In a recent post, I extolled the virtues of Robert Cialdini‘s Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive. The book is wonderfully designed in 50 short chapters to describe the results of 50 different randomized field experiments. The format of, say, 1,800 words per chapter is a bit unusual. But I found it a Read More »
If I Change My Name to Millionaire, Will I Win the Lottery?
We’ve said it many times before: your name is not your destiny. Unless you choose to make it so. In our continuing quest to bring you Grade A aptonyms from every walk of life, here’s the latest offering: + The author of a new bread cookbook, Kneadlessly Simple, named Nancy Baggett. (HT: Raj Pandravada.) + Read More »
Toronto’s Punny Business
As much as we love aptonyms on this blog, we also appreciate a cleverly named store (not, however, all those horrible names for hair salons — Hair Port, Shear Elegance, etc.). Our readers in Toronto, for instance, may have stopped in for lunch today at the Hindenburger (the patties are flame-broiled, naturally), after picking up Read More »
Aptonyms for the New Year
Because a new year has begun, it seems a good time to unveil some of the aptonyms that we’ve been accumulating. (Earlier aptonym posts can be found here.) 1. During a recent N.F.L. game between the Bears and the Vikings, played on a frigid Monday night in Chicago, I learned that the city has a Read More »
This Week in Aptonyms
In keeping with our aptonym tradition, a bunch of helpful readers have sent in good examples of people whose last names go well with their professions. To wit: From a reader named James: Apparently, the city of Boston has a tree inspector named Leif Fixen. (Also, the photo credit on that story goes to a Read More »
This Week’s (In)Appropriate Names
Aptonyms are the gifts that keep giving. You toss out one or two here on the blog, and readers keep coming back with more. This week’s aptonyms include: A home-schooling mom and blogger whose last name is Hermitt. (Okay, it’s not great, but it’s pretty good.) And this Newsday article about teacher-student sex affairs quotes Read More »
and 
. You can also watch it on 