Lexigrams of the Moment

From the for-what-it’s-worth department, the following idiosyncrasies - mentioned below in no particular order - seem noteworthy due to either the frequency or rarity of their appearance in names mentioned in Lexigramsofthemoment.com (LOTM).

Interestingly, the ‘voice’ of the individuals – the casual or formal style or regional accent they may have used or actually use - emerges in their lexigram. Just check out the lexigrams here of, for example, Joey Buttafuoco, Nicolas Copernicus, Mithradates Eupator, Thomas Edison, Bill O’Reilly, Amy Winehouse or Bobby Jindal.

The word ‘liberal’ appears in the full names of Bill Maher, Rod Blagojevich, and Bill O’Reilly.

The word ‘suicide’ only appears here in the full names of Richard Quest and Madonna.

The word ‘ugly’ appears in LOTM only in the full names of Susan Boyle,  Chesley Sullenberger, and Jaycee Dugard.

The word ‘breasts’ emerges in the full names of Elizabeth Taylor and Barbra Streisand.

The words ‘silicone’ and ‘saline chest’ emerge in the name of Anna Nicole Smith.

‘Whore’ emerges in the full names of Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey, Chris Brown, Debbie Rowe, Jay-Z, and Charlie Sheen.

Only in the following nine full names listed in LOTM does the word ‘murder’ appear: Heinrich Himmler, Rupert Murdoch, Conrad Murray, Rudy Hermann Guede, Veronica Deramous, Daniel Murray, Ruth Madoff, Marcus Wesson, and Mithradates Eupator. All but Murdoch and Madoff have been directly implicated in having contributed to the death or deaths of others.

The word ‘camera’ pops out in the full name of Jim Carrey.

Though certainly the letters ’s, t, a, r, e, and l’ are common enough letters appearing together in many names, one-third of the film and TV personalities posted herein have names that form the words ‘star’ and/or ‘reel.’ Note: Meryl Streep, Scarlett Johanson, Thomas Mapother Cruise (woops, ‘camera’ again), Ryan Seacrest, Julia Roberts, etc.

Of course, the flip side of ’star’ is ‘rat.’

Speaking of ‘rat,’ the number of individuals whose names feature ‘rat’s nest’ and who have spent time or who are spending time in prison, is also noteworthy. For reference, run through a listing of names appearing in the category of Law and Justice. Other words associated with the trap of prison of course include ‘jail’ itself or ‘cell.’ Similarly, a trap set for others and/or a mental or emotional trap seems again and again to be expressed in the word ‘lair.’

‘Smile’ is prominent in the names of several, including Madonna, Vince Lombardi, William Hearst, O.J. Simpson, and Isabella Martinez. ‘Grin’ stands out in George Sodini and Rush Limbaugh. Those who have both ’smile’ and ‘grin’ include Bill Gates, Jim Morrison, and J.D. Salinger. Make of it what you will …

Individuals posted at LOTM whose full names quickly revealed ‘danger’ include George Sodini and Bowe Bergdahl.

Only the full names of the following individuals, listed in LOTM, feature all five vowels: Christiane Amanpour, Jon Stewart, Jim Morisson, Annie Leibovitz, Katie Couric, Anthony Bourdain, Celine Dion, Mithradates Eupator, Nicolas Copernicus, Voltaire, and Charles Dickens. Names with all five vowels lend themselves too easily to lexigramming, and therefore should generally not be lexigrammed.

Only two people listed among these posts have full names that contain only one vowel. That vowel is ‘E.’ The names are Ellen Lee DeGeneres and Glenn Lee Beck.

At least two have full names contain more than 15 different letters, those of Celine Dion and Voltaire. Because names with more than 15 different letters lend themselves too easily to lexigramming, they generally should not be lexigrammed.

Though not in common use, the words ‘lad’ and ‘lass’ emerge with sufficient frequency to warrant them valid references. They stand out in the full name of Nadya Suleman.

Frequently the term ‘dear one’ appears. This expression seems to serve as a reference to the individual mentioned as someone who is or who has been deeply cared about by family - as ‘adore a dear one’ is also encompassed. See?

Beyond ‘he, she, him, her’ or ‘they,’ when actual names of significant others such as relatives or friends appear, it seems they should not be dismissed as appearing due to coincidence.

The lexigramming of all names usually offers amazing results in relation to what the individuals named actually do or have experienced. A few of the most uncanny appearing at LOTM include those of Bowe Bergdahl, Christopher Reeve, Woody Allen, Oprah Winfrey, Timothy Geithner, Madeleine McCann, Dr. Nicholas Nassim Taleb, Dr. Conrad Murray, and Frances Patricia Dingle - among many, many others.

Inconclusive, possibly outrageously absurd, but definitely fun-to-contemplate random conclusions drawn?

Words of a similar vein – some commonly seen include anger/rage or love/solve - flow together to become a sort of guide-line for people. When you wonder why you’re always angry, why others complain about your being angry, or why someone else is always angry - take a look at the relevant full name and see if you don’t see the words IRE / ANGER / or RAGE. Surprised? Don’t be.

Though the circumstances of the bestowal of our names upon us may be complicated or simple, it is a fact that they are as much a force in our lives - guiding our choices and influencing others’ reactions to us, facilitating or destroying our connections or opportunities - at least as much as, and perhaps even more than those aspects of life that society has generally put more stock in having an affect on our life outcomes - such as our personality, health, education, experience, appearance, judgement or decision-making.

Just as people are strongly influenced by subliminal messages and words used suggestively or creatively in advertising, it seems that people are guided in their decisions both by words that emerge subliminally in their own names and by words that they subconsciously notice in the names of others.

These names give us direction and guidance. Our decisions related to our short- and long-term goals may be influenced by words that appear in our names. And, who knows? These words may influence us and those who react to us more than the influence of our upbringing. Of course, we’ve all heard the expression regarding those black sheep or bad apples in the family … ‘You feed ‘em all the same mashed potatoes but …’ Well, yes. We’re all different in many ways, including and perhaps most fundamentally because of what we’ve been named.

Children do not think that they are one day going to become so depressed and sad or lonely that they might take all manner of socially despicable actions.

Just ask Dennis Rader if as a child he thought he would become a heartless serial killer.

Ask Bernard Madoff if as a child he thought he would cheat people out of 50 billion dollars.

Ask former cop Clyde Ray Spencer if he ever dreamed he would sit in a prison cell for many years.

These people followed a guide-line, and people around them fulfilled or helped make manifest elements of that line.

Or not.

Certainly physical and mental illness or brain trauma generally serve as the primary consideration when society searches for answers to the grand ‘WHYs’ about especially shocking behavior. But knowing what we already know about advertising and marketing, should it be so revolutionary to consider the impact of our very names on actions and reactions?

As we all grow weary of seeing people with pleasant enough faces and what most of us deem an appalling lack of compassion or failure to weep as they stand before judges getting sentenced for heinous crimes, perhaps we could at least start giving due consideration to what appears to be – from the looks of evidence on this site – an obvious reason - THEIR NAMES.

How would society react to the following as a defense: ‘My NAME made me do it!’

Or how is this for a way out of jury duty: ‘Your Honor, I have lexigrammed the full names of all parties involved, and deem myself unfit to serve as a juror; I’ve already made up my mind as to who the bad guy is!’

Is that really such a far-fetched notion?

Just as school English classes teach youth to watch out for clever advertising gimmicks, yellow journalism or propaganda in speeches, it seems we need to look perhaps even more closely at full names - including and especially our own - and consider as well the potential and actual impact they could be having on the courses of our lives.

As an additional note point of consideration, it seems to be the case that more varied life experiences are afforded those who are given names that contain more letters than those with few letters, or names that offer limited scope for lexigrams. Those VARIED life experiences might be good or bad, enriching or harrowing - or shall we say DIRE or DEAR , depending on how we DRIVE.

Our lives unfold as they do and are what they are based on a multitude of factors - including or not including as many believe, God’s grace or the devil’s doings.

The extent to which our life outcomes are influenced by decisions, karma, subliminal messages, names, auras, looks, health, seemingly random experiences or winds kicked up in Peoria by the flapping of the wings of a butterfly in Sumatra can neither be seen nor measured - but these influences certainly all guide us along our diverse and often bizarre journeys.

Based on the propinquity to numerous other means of getting to the bottom of why we are the way we are, it seems unfair to ignore the relatively high rate of validity revealed in lexigrams.

Indeed, it seems high time the global community consider the profound effect of English words in general and our names in particular as we ponder this time-worn mystery of why we are who we are.

Oh - and what about those who have the SAME names? What about all those I, IIs, IIIs in families? The person who does the lexigram will see something different in every name. What might emerge as ‘rat’ in one will emerge as ’star’ in an identical name. ‘Like’ in one name may evolve into ‘kill’ in an identical name. That wacky ’vibe’ of the person who does the lexigram matters. The ‘lexigrammer’ will hit the nail on the head about the MOMENT or DEFINING MOMENT regarding the individual whose name is under consideration, whether or not he or she personally knows or knows of the individual and even if millions of other people have that person’s same name.

Got any comments or observations to share regarding these musings?

Write them in comments beneath respective posts or send them by email to lexigramsofthemoment@gmail.com.

Lexigrams of the Moment.com© 2009 All Rights Reserved.