Languages around the world are as beautifully diverse as the people who speak them, and along with that comes a wealth of different names with lovely sounds and deep meanings. The flipside of that, however, is that some of those names can sound quite funny in other languages.
It’s that potential for humor that the Weird Names and Yoo Names Facebook pages capitalize on. On these pages, the admins share screenshots of people with (usually non-English) names that might sound funny in English. The screenshots are often accompanied by comments from other users who help frame the name as a pun.
On the one hand, many of the screenshots look like innocent fun. On the other, some people may not feel comfortable having their names laughed at. What do you think?
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I wonder how many people in Asian- or Arab-speaking countries are like : lmao our normal names. They be like : wtf name their kid David Smit or Jennifer Miller - or whatever. In Europe, we are already making fun of all the impossible American names that just throw in extra z / y and bonus for any aditional leigh. K@iyleighhlynnleigh and so...
For most of these weird name puns, the key is something called a homophone. A homophone is a word that has the same sound as another word but can have different meanings or even spellings. Similarly, a homogram is a word that has the same spelling as another word but can have a different sound and meaning.
There are plenty of homophones within the English language already, so once you step outside its boundaries, the possibilities are nearly endless.
But even within the English language, there are quite a few name-related homophones that can, depending on the situation, provide fertile ground for name puns:
- Doug // dug
- Phil // fill
- Rob // rob
- Neil // kneel
Can you think of any others?
One question does remain, however - do puns like this count as cyberbullying?
It may depend on the person involved. Some people can play along with jokes like these while others may feel uncomfortable when strangers online make jokes about their name. In the worst-case scenario, cyberbullying can make its victims more likely to hurt themselves.
If you ever decide to make fun of somebody’s name online, make sure you guys are on the same page about having a laugh!
My dad used to say that when me and my sister were arguing, "But in the end, it doesn't even matter."
I'm gonna find ya, I'm gonna getcha, getcha, getcha, getcha
Note: this post originally had 52 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
Bored Panda: Let's censor the words "kill", "murder" and "rape". After all, we don't want anyone to get upset. Also Bored Panda: Hey, let's make fun of peoples full names and also show their pictures!
Uh.. Is it normal nowadays to message people you don't know to make fun of their name? That sounds pretty rude imo..
I suspect quite a few of them are real names. Bored Panda.. this is NOT appropriate.
Yeah, honestly, I scrolled through about five of them before I said to myself, is this what people think is funny now? Mocking the names of other people who probably don't even live in an English-speaking country and probably have totally normal names for their culture? Is it funny to harass and demean people just for their names? Oh, and obviously they need to screenshot the name/their conversation in order to post it online for all the internet karma/likes. Am I just old that I think this is rude and mean and not funny?
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Bored Panda: Let's censor the words "kill", "murder" and "rape". After all, we don't want anyone to get upset. Also Bored Panda: Hey, let's make fun of peoples full names and also show their pictures!
Uh.. Is it normal nowadays to message people you don't know to make fun of their name? That sounds pretty rude imo..
I suspect quite a few of them are real names. Bored Panda.. this is NOT appropriate.
Yeah, honestly, I scrolled through about five of them before I said to myself, is this what people think is funny now? Mocking the names of other people who probably don't even live in an English-speaking country and probably have totally normal names for their culture? Is it funny to harass and demean people just for their names? Oh, and obviously they need to screenshot the name/their conversation in order to post it online for all the internet karma/likes. Am I just old that I think this is rude and mean and not funny?
Load More Replies...