Friday, December 18, 2015

Schlumbergera seedling no. 106

The story for 106A is all about the name Jaws of Elmo. That picture showed up last year in the options for 019A, and I rejected the name in favor of Belevenissen, on the grounds that Elmo, the "Sesame Street" Muppet, was red, and the blooms on 019A were orange. But now the picture has shown up again, on a red-blooming seedling, so the question is: is there any name I could possibly like any better than Jaws of Elmo?


So. Thirty options originally, condensed to five serious contenders.

Furnace is short, color-appropriate, and boring, but it brought to mind Fornax, the constellation, which still means "furnace" but sounds a bit more sci-fi and weird. Had to stop and think about it a little, but neither option is better than Jaws of Elmo.

Deer Devil is weird, and a cool picture (?), but "devil" is a problem for reasons described elsewhere, and aside from maybe a slight similarity in shape between deer antler and Schlumbergera bloom silhouettes, there's really no reason to involve deer in this.


Martian Tequila has problems similar to Raspberry Vodka, plus you know the first tequila produced on Mars will be awful.

Until her name came up for this seedling, I was only familiar with Dusty Springfield from Pulp Fiction ("Son of a Preacher Man") and the Pet Shop Boys ("What Have I Done To Deserve This"). So I listened to a bunch of YouTube videos, and: well, she was talented, no question about that. Nothing jumped out and grabbed me in a this is my new favorite song kind of way,1 but I sort of feel like I gained an appreciation for her as a person, if that makes any sense. I also learned from a frighteningly thorough Wikipedia article that Springfield2 was a lesbian, which explains the Pet Shop Boys' interest.3 In the end, I wound up willing to name a seedling for Springfield at some point, but not this seedling.


So Jaws of Elmo it is. Finally.

-

1 (and I really dislike "The Look of Love," for unknown and unexplored reasons)
2 (born Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien)
3 Not that the Pet Shop Boys can't hire whichever guest vocalists they want, but a lot of people could have done Springfield's part in What Have I Done To Deserve This, but they wanted her. So now I have part of an answer as to why. As if "Son of a Preacher Man" wouldn't be reason enough.


No comments: