THE COMMON ROUND

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24944, 17 June 1942, Page 6

THE COMMON ROUND

By Wayfarer The rather resounding successes of American arms (we helped!) in the Coral Sea and at Midway may be expected to introduce into the Register of the Registrar of Births some new and fancy nomenclature. We await, though albeit without impatience, the outcropping of a new cycle of Christian names to complement the BadenPowell Smiths and Khartoum Jones's of the Boer War, the Anzac Robinsons and Kitchener Jellicoe Clarks of the Great War. For the benefit of expectant fathers, the following tentative list is provided: Surname. Given Names. Lewis Luislade Archipelago Pennyweight Pacific Victoria Numbskull Nlmitz G. Washington Cholmondeley Winston D. Roosevelt Brown Coral Great Barrier Mugwump Port Moresby MacArthur Corregidor MacArthur Fotheringhaugh Douglas Fletcher These will do to go on with, serving to fill a want that must have been keenly felt by proud and potential parents who hesitated, in the earlier stages of the war, to commit their offspring to " Dunkirk," " Crete," " Olympus," even to "Tobruk,"' "Rostov" or "Leningrad." Not that these are not very rousing names, but they tended to appear just a bit provisional.

For the future we expect a much larger choice to be coming forward, which may reasonably include the once-honoured and euphonious placenames of Normandy and Brittany, with a large selection of other Continental familiars, and should incorporate the full range of fragrant, beautiful native designations of the once-and-again-to-be-blest isles of the Western Pacific. Meanwhile, if our list above finds no satisfaction in the souls of poetic parents, there is really no objection to Lofoten Lewis, as a substitute for Luisiade; to St. Nazaire; to Hawaii or Honolulu Hamilton.

Which brings me to another likely field, best revealed in an American news item which caught our roving eye the other day. Perpend: In Coffeyville, Kansas, an Osage Indian introduced his family to a visitor. " I am Brave Eagle," he announced. "This is my son, Fighting Bird—and this is my grandson. Four-motored

Bomber." We hesitate to commend "Hurricane," "Spitfire" or "Airacobra" as a suitable choice for a blue-eyed baby blonde; or " Bren Gun Carrier " for a plump little brunette. The trouble is that their characters and even their curves might be conditioned by. the choice of a too-expressive name. But there is quite a lot to be said for " Waltzing Matilda " Matthews, " Jeep " Jones, or " Secret Weapon " Smith.

The chronicles of war are gradually accumulating their quota of quotations, to which add the comment of Lieutenant James Moore, of the American forces at the battle off Midway. Quotha: Moore's crewmates say It was real hell, with the Zeros bursting away at them, while every flak gun from the Japanese invasion fleet was blasting shells. Lieutenant Moore, who had never before seen anti-aircraft fire, watched with interest bursting shells through his bombsight and then calmly remarked to the crew, " Say, that stuff sure looks pretty through here." This is a pure Americanism, to be remembered along with the classic in New Zealandese. uttered by a New Zealand sergeant on the beach at Kalamai. on the night of April 28-29. 1941: "To hell with this! Who'll come with me?" Thereupon, like Jesting Pilate, he did not wait for an answer, but single-handed blasted the Nazis from their gun positions and held the guns.

There is another noteworthy contribution to the informal history of this conflict, which received much prominence in the American press, soon after the Japanese in their very courteous way (to quote Colonel Blimp) sent off their bombs and their apologies at the same time. On the American mainland excitement was intense. Aircraft which flew over San Francisco met with a thunderous reception from the A.A. posts—and it does not seem to have been decided yet whether they were friendly or hostile craft. Over New York more planes were reported, and even claimed as being shot down, and the A.A. batteries knocked a chip off a Wall street building—and it is not yet clear whether they were American patrols, enemy raiders, or figments of the imagination. It was at this moment that the beleaguered garrison of marines on Wake Island sent through a message by portable radio to headquarters in the United States: "Tell the people back home to try and hold out until we can get reinforcements to them."

The problem of the common cold is still unsolved, says a London message. Well, a handkerchief requires only a quarter of a coupon.

"Lost ... . Spectacles (pinze-nez), button attached." Well, the loss of one of those little retrousse nezzes is not as great as that of the beak to which we attach our spectacles.