Inaptonym watch

by liberal japonicus

One thing I like is to note inaptonyms, like the hair salon named Tangles or the copy shop named Typos (the Philippine Roman Catholic cardinal Jaime Sin is often on the top of the list) and this story, about an investment fund called Situational Awareness, definitely deserves a place of honor. Any others that have caught your attention lately?

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27 Comments
Snarki, child of Loki
Snarki, child of Loki
10 days ago

How many of the “inaptonyms” are actually “oxymorons”?

Military Intelligence.
Jumbo shrimp.

cleek
cleek
10 days ago

my MiL used to see a Dr Tickle.

wjca
wjca
10 days ago

Jumbo shrimp is an oxymoron.

Military intelligence isn’t really an oxymoron. That is, the two words only contradict each other in some cases. In others, they don’t conflict. Ask the Ukrainians about how well their military intelligence works for them.

For the Russians, on the other hand, “military intelligence” does appear to be at least close to an inaptonym. (Is that how we know that Russian and Ukrainian are different languages? /snark)

Last edited 10 days ago by William Jouris
nous
nous
9 days ago

Make America Great Again

nooneithinkisinmytree
nooneithinkisinmytree
9 days ago

I had two colonoscopies from a Doctor Rector.

The virulently psychopathic and thereby mainstream Republican RFK Jr. hosted a cooking show the other day with Chef Andrew GRUEL.

Mike Crapo lived up to his name.

Hartmut
Hartmut
9 days ago

Well, MAGA is just misspelled. It should be grate not great. Then it would be apt. No surprise for guys insulting others as ‘morans’.

Hartmut
Hartmut
9 days ago

And I thought gruel and unjuiceal panishment was illegal.

Michael Cain
Michael Cain
9 days ago

Could someone with access to the robots.txt file for the server add the following three lines?

Disallow: /state-of-the-discussion

Disallow: /commenter-archive

Disallow: /commenter-thread

Another site that runs the State of the Discussion plug-in had multiple web crawlers start through the URLs generated by the State of the Discussion pages. There are an essentially infinite number of different URLs that will be generated when a piece of idiot software starts down that path, which does bad things to performance. These three lines will keep at least the well-behaved bots from doing that.

Snarki, child of Loki
Snarki, child of Loki
9 days ago

If you’re editing server files, you might want to take a look at:

https://perishablepress.com/ultimate-ai-block-list/

For techniques in telling web-scraping AI bots to buzz off. Unfortunately, it’s a rapidly evolving whack-a-mole problem.

Michael Cain
Michael Cain
9 days ago

Unfortunately, it’s a rapidly evolving whack-a-mole problem.

Even Krugman used enshitification the other day. At the other site that uses SotD I had to turn off the commenter archive features. I’ve been monitoring the traffic there so I’ll know when it’s safe to turn them back on. 45% of all TCP connections made to that server are attempts to guess a WordPress user ID and password :^(

wjca
wjca
8 days ago

Another inaptonym for the files:

Department of Health and Human Services

CharlesWT
CharlesWT
7 days ago

Inaptonyms (also spelled inaptronyms) are names that are ironically unsuitable or opposite to a person’s profession, character, or circumstances—the antonym of an aptronym (a fitting name). The term was popularized by Washington Post columnist Gene Weingarten.

Here are well-known examples:

Jaime Sin (Cardinal Sin): Filipino Catholic cardinal and Archbishop of Manila. “Cardinal Sin” is a classic ironic play on the phrase for a major sin.

Frank Beard: Drummer for ZZ Top and long the only clean-shaven member of the famously bearded band (until around 2013).

Danielle Outlaw: Former Philadelphia Police Commissioner (an “outlaw” in law enforcement).

Rob Banks: British police officer.

Peter Bowler: Cricketer who was primarily a batsman rather than a bowler.

Larry Playfair: NHL defenseman known for fighting rather than playing fairly.

Colleen Lawless: American lawyer and judge.

Don Black: White supremacist (surname “Black”).

Grant Balfour: MLB pitcher (a “ball four” is a walk, undesirable for a pitcher).

Bob Walk: MLB pitcher.

Samuel Foote: 18th-century comic actor who lost a leg in a riding accident and joked about it on stage (“Foote and leg…”).

Doug Bowser: President of Nintendo of America (Bowser is the main antagonist in the *Super Mario* series).

Claudio Gentile: Italian footballer noted for physical strength (“gentile” means gentle/kind).

Ciro Immobile: Italian footballer known for mobility and eluding defenders (“immobile” means motionless).

Other frequently cited cases include Robin Mahfood (head of Food for the Poor) and I.C. Notting (ophthalmologist). These are coincidental ironies rather than deliberate choices, and lists vary by source, but the ones above are among the most repeatedly documented for public figures.

Last edited 7 days ago by CharlesWT
Priest
Priest
7 days ago

Adding to the list of unfortunate sports names is the (currently minor league) baseball pitcher Baily Falter.

Snarki, child of Loki
Snarki, child of Loki
7 days ago

Ciro Immobile”

In Italian, “immobile” means “real estate”. The property you can’t move.

The term in English takes more effort to explain.

wjca
wjca
7 days ago

ChatGPT: misinformation, increasingly plausible to the ignorant.

Snarki, child of Loki
Snarki, child of Loki
7 days ago

LLM = “monetizing GIGO”

nooneithinkisinmytree
nooneithinkisinmytree
6 days ago

I was going to add ICE and to the list of funny words, but I need to become heavily armed first before I exercise my free speech in this Soviet Nazi Tontons Macoute regime.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo/revealed-the-scope-of-ices-surveillance-of-its-online-critics

El Salvador’s and the country formerly known as America’s Constitutions read the same now.

The Arc of Justice, sometimes noted here as still existent, is pointed right at our crotches.

nooneithinkisinmytree
nooneithinkisinmytree
6 days ago

Victor Marx, Republican Christian MAGA Jew-burner, racist, woman-hater, admitted murderer, as all conservatives are from the bottom of their polluted spleens, seems a candidate for an inaptonym, given his propensity to call everyone a Marxist fag, all the evil republican party could cough up from its bottomless vermin genocidal Texan bile ducts, is running for Governor of Colorado, a state from whence I just moved.

He’d have Karl and Groucho, Harpo, and Chico gassed and burned, probably mistaking Chico for a Mexican wetback.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/colorado-republicans-attack-jewish-gov-candidate-with-ai-cartoon-devil-horns-graphicicotr marx

There is not yet enough military-grade weaponry per citizen in America.

nooneithinkisinmytree
nooneithinkisinmytree
6 days ago

Proud to serve in vermin conservative America:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/ice-detains-relatives-of-us-troops-during-immigration-crackdown/

Within a year, ICE will be doing THIS to immigrants in all states and American citizens in Blue States:

Watch the video:

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/08/ukraine-russia-war-drones/688183/

I do drone on.

Any conservative with the last name of Ratfucker is not named inaptomymically.

Funny how the filth are using up all of the missiles in Iran just as Ukraine is running low on missile defenses.

Still pissing the bed in Moscow on tape for Putin.

GftNC
GftNC
6 days ago

The Arc of Justice, sometimes noted here as still existent

I don’t know about anybody else, but speaking personally I have been experiencing serious doubts about the Arc of Justice for quite some time.

cleek
cleek
5 days ago

is this thread open? what the hell. it is now:

“Why the tradwife movement is also about racism”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPRrQZCmcso

wjca
wjca
5 days ago

The (Sacramento) Athletics have a relief pitcher named Scott Blewett. Pitching today, which is why I noticed.

So far: 6 up and 6 down. So he hasn’t blown it.

nooneithinkisinmytree
nooneithinkisinmytree
5 days ago
nooneithinkisinmytree
nooneithinkisinmytree
2 days ago

https://digbysblog.net/2026/08/08/making-his-move/

Greenland and Denmark must turn back, with force, any Americans who attempt to enter Greenland.

The employees of the oil company should be arrested and held in custody.

ANY American (so-called) Federal employee regardless of rank and office, any Republican, any MAGA media or influencer, any subhuman American conservative trying to enter Greenland should have warning shots fired over their heads, at every entry port, including the airports.

Greenland officials should consult with Saudi Arabia regarding the brand of luxury luggage the bloody chunks of Jamal Khashoggi’s murdered body were ferried out of the country and act accordingly to repel all threatening foreign outside agitators, spies, and corporate vermin who threaten their sovereignty.

Canada should follow Greenland’s lead.

Michael Cain
Michael Cain
2 days ago

Greenland and Denmark must turn back, with force, any Americans who attempt to enter Greenland.

The largest of the annual EU defense exercises in Greenland is dwarfed by the resources of a single Wasp-class US amphibious assault ship (the US has seven in active service). The EU spends weeks getting the resources for those small exercises into place (none of them actually stay in Greenland). A Wasp-class can steam from home port in Virginia to Greenland in five days if they push it.

nooneithinkisinmytree
nooneithinkisinmytree
1 day ago

https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2026/08/mike-rogers-joins-trumps-war-on-constitutional-democracy

A savage civil war is what the conservative vermin want and are planning.

Maybe they will send their Wasp-class assault ships to Lake Michigan too.