Why so many Mikes?

[yo1dog]

Ever notice how many arcade enthusiasts are named Mike?

Just a thought from a fellow Mike.

[Hoopz]

"Mike" is jargon for the middle linebacker.   

[Howard_Casto]

Mike is a common name, and thus you will find a lot of Mikes in any hobby, not just this one.  Same goes for Steve, John or Jim/James.  

Now Howard is a different matter all-together.  It's quite hard to find more than one Howard in anything.  

[Xiaou2]

Theres a Howard The Duck, and a Howard Johnson's...

    heh

[Howard_Casto]

Yes thanks a lot for reminding me that the only famous Howards are the namesake for the worst movie ever made, a chain of crappy motels, and the greatest aviation, medical, and film pioneer of all time.... who later went completely insaine.  (Howard Hughes)

It's not like I haven't been reminded of it enough.... every single day... for the entirety of my childhood.   

[Ginsu Victim]

Howard Shore (great film composer)
and even better...
Howard Sherman...

[DaOld Man]

And dont forget Howard Sprauge.

[Blanka]

Join a foreign arcade community. Here nobody is named Mike.

[Malenko]

no love for Howard Phillips (of Howard and Nester Fame)?

Also, While my name is Thom, my nickname is Mike (Thomas Michael)

[Xiaou2]

Sorry Howard, I just had to rib you once 

 Although Howard the Duck was pretty bad... sadly, Ive seen much much MUCH worse.  And if it were not for Howard Huges, todays aircraft would probably be a lot more primitive.

 I should have added Howard Jones, a great singer from the 80s.  I think hes still at it actually. I gota check in and see if I like his later stuff that I missed.

 Interestingly enough Cindi Lauper's still making music.  However, it sounds nothing like the edgy 80s stuff.

[CCM]

There's always Howard Stern, and Howard K. Stern...

[Malenko]

Howard Lincoln!

[Hoopz]

Moe Howard!  Unless we're not going with last names then I'm saying Howie Mandel.

[Mikezilla]

Moe Howard!  Unless we're not going with last names then I'm saying Howie Mandel.

Is there a dude in the Backstreet Boys named Howie?! 

I of course am not bias at all or anything, but Michael is an AWESOME name! The only reason I would change it is because my last name starts with a Z, so Zach would have been cool for alliterative purposes. I can name my kid Zack I suppose.

[Ginsu Victim]

And we can't forget Howard Moon:

[wp34]

They've all got daughters named katelynn too.

I was thinking Mikaela.

[Mikezilla]

They've all got daughters named katelynn too.

I was thinking Mikaela.

Thats if youre fully white. Im half mexican, so there is no way Im naming my kid THAT. The spelling is too distracting anyway.

[yotsuya]

I was thinking Mikaela.

Thats if youre fully white. Im half mexican, so there is no way Im naming my kid THAT. The spelling is too distracting anyway.

Mike, working in the schools, I can't tell you how many Mexican kids come with names like Mikaela or Dakota or Taylor as their names. And I'm full-Mexican, as well. 

[Mikezilla]

I was thinking Mikaela.

Thats if youre fully white. Im half mexican, so there is no way Im naming my kid THAT. The spelling is too distracting anyway.

Mike, working in the schools, I can't tell you how many Mexican kids come with names like Mikaela or Dakota or Taylor as their names. And I'm full-Mexican, as well. 

  Really?! Its cause of one of those parents MUST be white.  Ew. Dakota? Cmon...  Viva la raza! 

[yotsuya]

Mike-

My theory is that the farther you get in generation, the less likely you are to stick with tradition. Our kids named Juan, Jesus, Guadalupe- they all come from Spanish speaking homes. The ones from third- or fourth- generation Mexican-American homes? Those parents have moved on and assimilated.

Just for laughs, I pulled up in our student system a common Mexican surname. The first 5 results for student names?

Analise
Armando
Brianna
Calvin
Edward

Only one traditional Mexican name out of 5.

[Mikezilla]

Wow what a trip. Thanks for the lesson Yotsuya. I never would have thought that. Everyone is going to end up brown someday 

  @ PBJ.

[yotsuya]

Wow what a trip. Thanks for the lesson Yotsuya. I never would have thought that. Everyone is going to end up brown someday 

If you ever have a chance, go visit San Antonio. It's the only place I know run by Mexican-Americans that doesn't want to look like the motherland. It's beautiful and easily one of my favorite cities in America.

[TopJimmyCooks]

There's only one Top Jimmy!
The original one died in 2001, RIP.

Actually, there are none, because my name is David. 

[yotsuya]

There's only one Top Jimmy!
The original one died in 2001, RIP.

Actually, there are none, because my name is David. 

Lee Roth?

[yotsuya]

If you ever have a chance, go visit San Antonio. It's the only place I know run by Mexican-Americans that doesn't want to look like the motherland. It's beautiful and easily one of my favorite cities in America.

Except that most of them aren't Mexican-Americans. 

 

Let's put it this way- the ones that are running stuff are doing it the right way.

[Dartful Dodger]

Seeing Mexicans standing up for their Spanish traditions always makes me giggle.

[Mikezilla]

A city run by mexicans in america huh? I take it back, THAT is a trip.

The other half of me is german, so now I dont know how I feel.  Haha just kidding.

[yotsuya]

A city run by mexicans in america huh? I take it back, THAT is a trip.

The other half of me is german, so now I dont know how I feel.  Haha just kidding.

Oh you'd do pretty well here, that's a common ancestry.

The Germans like to pretend they were here before the other Europeans but they weren't.     They did found a bunch of atheist towns around here, though, which is always a little strange.

Jim is right. If you are of Mexican or German descent, San Antonio is like heaven.

[javeryh]

you know what's really annoying?  My middle name is now becoming a very popular girl's name.  What the crap?

[yotsuya]

James, kthx, and my point is that there have been people living here long before there was a Mexico so I think it's a little incorrect to refer to the folks here as 'Mexican-Americans' (unless you wanna include my lily white ass that had family that settled in the area when it was Mexico).
   


Anyway, it's hot, crowded, really expensive, and the food is terrible.  Nobody should ever move to San Antonio.

Jimmy-

When I say "Mexican-American", I'm referring to people whose descendants came to the US FROM Mexico at some point in time. Well, like... me. If you are lilly white and your family settled in North Mexico/the Republic of Texas, you're not "Mexican-American". At least not how I was brought up to understand the term.

[Malenko]

Nobody should ever move to San Antonio.

Oddly enough, I still miss it. The only thing I hated was when it rained, my car got MEGA dirty.

Barbacoa on Sunday made up for that ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---.

[yotsuya]

When I say "Mexican-American", I'm referring to people whose descendants came to the US FROM Mexico at some point in time. Well, like... me. If you are lilly white and your family settled in North Mexico/the Republic of Texas, you're not "Mexican-American". At least not how I was brought up to understand the term.

WTF is 'North Mexico'?  That's not a real term for Texas.  Anyway, yes, the family settled in Texas when it was part of Mexico (Texians, I suppose).   

The point I was trying to make is that you have people from families that have been here for centuries.  It's a little weird to call them 'Mexican-Americans', IMO.  Yes, we have plenty of Mexican immigration and tourism, but we've got a lot of brown skinned folks with no connection to Mexico as well.  In your defense, I've yet to hear a great term around here to describe them ('tejano' gets kicked around a lot).

Really is better not to try and label people, I think.  This is the most integrated place I've seen outside of the Caribbean.

To be fair, it's a self-applied label. I'm not "Mexican" because I'm not from Mexico, but I am of Mexican descent. However, saying "I'm an American of Mexican Descent" is a bit of a mouthful, so "Mexican-American" works better.

And I wouldn't apply it to you all, so no worries. 

[Dartful Dodger]

Both of my parents are from Ireland.

However, saying "Irish-American" is a bit of a mouthful, so "American" works better.

[yotsuya]

Both of my parents are from Ireland.

However, saying "Irish-American" is a bit of a mouthful, so "American" works better.

Good point! 

[Howard_Casto]

Both of my parents are from Ireland.

However, saying "Irish-American" is a bit of a mouthful, so "American" works better.

What he said.  Either you are an American or you aren't, those are the only two labels in this country that count.  P.C. labels are garbage.  Myself I could give two craps about my ancestory.... I'm here now and that's good enough for me. 

[yotsuya]

I've heard the term 'Mexican-American' long before it was considered a 'PC' term or fashionable to hate on PC terms. It just 'is'. Not seeing why it's considered a derrogatory thing.

[yo1dog]

Lol this conversation's progression:
Mikes -> Howards -> Mexicans

BTW I am German-Rusian-Canadian-Jewish-American

[Howard_Casto]

I've heard the term 'Mexican-American' long before it was considered a 'PC' term or fashionable to hate on PC terms. It just 'is'. Not seeing why it's considered a derrogatory thing.

It's like this.  Why do you need to thow the "Mexican" in there?  Unless you are of native (american) descent then your family line obviously isn't originally from the US.  Throwing another country in there is either saying "I am an American, but not really"  or "I am an American but I wish to seperate myself from all the other Americans for some reason."

It isn't derrogatory, it just seems to single out a group of people that don't really need to be singled out.  If you live here welcome to the country... I don't give a crap where you are from originally. 

Also there is a problem where people use such terms to "politely" categorize your race, not your country of origin.  "African American" is the worst offender on that one.  Your family is from Africa?  Really, which part?  Oh you don't know because your family line has been in the US for over 200 years and for a good bit of that you were slaves.  When somebody calls someone an "african american" they mean "a black person"  so why not just call them a black person?  Like-wise when someone says "Mexican American" they generally mean they are brown skinned and are probably of latin descent.  So why not just call them Latino or Chicano or whatever?

I'm of Irish, Scottish, English, Slavic and Cherokee descent, but when people see ME they just say I'm a white guy. 

[Malenko]

Im white.

[Vigo]

Race terms have become a huge abomination on the English language. It's gotten to the point where you cannot "inoffensively" describe a person's race without it being a 20 syllable disclaimer. I do sympathize with yotsuya though, if it weren't for all the lame PC stuff floating around, it would be no big deal about him using the phrase 'Mexican-American'.

African-American is a complete misnomer for the reason that Jim pointed out. I have a friend who is white from South Africa, I asked her if she preferred to be called African-American, and she jokingly replied that she prefers the term "Anglo-European-African-Colonist-American". Then there is my friend from Trinidad who hates being called African-American, as she doesn't see herself as being from Africa at all. I also have a old classmate from Egypt who decided to put African-American on his college applications, figuring it would help him get in with the affirmative action stuff. Following what the term says, he wasn't lying about his race.