Sunday, August 25, 2013

On The Naming Of Fictional High Schools....

The name of your junior high is okay, they said.  But your high schools' names are boring.
Really, they said.  Central High and North High?  Come on.  How lame.

But I named it North High because Salt Lake City has East High and West High and once had a South High, but there never was a North High, I said.  That way I'm sure it's not a real school.

It's still boring, they said.  Name a high school after some famous Utahn.
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Fine.  So, the most famous Utahn of all time is Brigham Young.  But nobody in their right mind would name a public high school after such a religious (and rather controversial) figure.
Then there's Philo T. Farnsworth, inventor of television.  But there are already elementary schools named after him.
Really, I wanted an original name, a name that hasn't really ever been used.
And finally I hit upon the perfect one!  Thus, the school where Pepper's father teaches in Becoming Brigid is Robert L. Parker High School, named in honor of Robert Leroy Parker, who is arguably the most famous Utahn ever -- after Brigham Young.


What do you mean you've never heard of him?  I bet you have.
And I can guarantee there are no real schools named after him in the state.

There.  I hope they're happy now.
*smirks*

4 comments:

  1. Cool idea. And what's even better, Robert L Parker, has the same birthday as I do. Granted, he was born 94 years before I was, but hey, on my next birthday, I'm going to sing "Happy Birthday" to Butch Cassidy.

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    1. I hadn't thought about his having the same b-day. How fun!

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  2. I hadn't heard of him but, maybe a little weirdly, I recognised the picture immediately! <3

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    1. He's pretty famous under his pseudonym, and that photo's pretty famous as well, so I expect lots of folks recognize everything except his real name.

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