22.12.06

No, it's not Zubaz.

I received a request to see the shirt I was wearing I was called a "zebra boy", and it got me thinking... but before I start philosophising, here's the shirt.

  No modelling, though; just the pattern. It's not that I'm not vain (I blog, don't I?), but I'm getting ready to drive to Edmonton tomorrow -- and at 1:00 in the morning, I just don't have the inclination to pretty up for the camera.

It's a nice shirt, by the way. Sturdy, dries quickly, irons well... a true winner in the Shirt-of-the-Day roster. I bought it for $15 from a street vendor on Whyte Avenue in Edmonton, and I wore it home. It wasn't until I took it off that evening that I realised it had dragons on it -- always a plus.

But dragons and zebras aren't the same thing. Sure, there are vertical stripes, but aren't zebras supposed to be a little less colourful?

Of course, there's an exception to every rule. VoilĂ ! I never expected our Section Head to have a sweet tooth, but there you have it -- incontrovertible evidence. Oh, and according to the all-knowing Internet, the zebra's name is "Yipes". I'm not sure if that's better or worse than "Zebra Boy."

I find the whole incident fascinating, simply because I've always believed that names have power. True, a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but the word is what connects our mind to the outside world. Perhaps a rose without a name would never be more than a generic wildflower.

And nowhere is that more felt than in names given to us. In Capoeira, you're given an apellido by your mestre. In Deaf culture, names are special signs only given out by people in the Deaf culture. And even though I've used the handle "Aquadeo" for eight years, it'll always have the caveat of being chosen by me, and that always irks me just a little. It's why I'm content to risk my public identity on the Internet, and sign this blog as "Denton" instead.

Then again, maybe people who were named "Denton" by their parents fixate on these things more than others.

4 comments:

TilJ said...

Coincedently (unless you don't believe in coincedences, in which case it's more of a conspiracy of fate), I was just thinking about a short way to describe Denton-ness to someone who isn't familiar with the stories of Labville. I came up with something. It's not a nickname, but rather an epithet -- but that's often even better, especially for the purposes of a .sig on a blog. I propose "road man for the lords of karma".

It combines the feeling of road trips with the essential concept that karma is seriously biased when it comes to the brothers Froese.

What do the knowers-of-Denton think?

(Skim through this Salon article for the reference).

Unknown said...

I can't comment on this directly, lest I be accused of fishing for compliments (but thank you, that's awesome). However, I would like to add that "road man for the conspiracies of fate" accurately describes about a third of my friends.

I wonder if that makes Labville a "microcosm of kismet".

Anonymous said...

Bahaha! I weasled out a new post.
That is quite the shirt. I am not so down with the zebra reference, but it is interesting nonetheless.

Anonymous said...

holy hell, I've not seen fruit stripes gum in YEARS. His name is Yipes? Seriously? Wow.

The shirt = awesome. Dragons make everything better.

My online name of Wrexie was given to me by someone other than me, and there is a neat story (ok it's neat to me... I can't say for sure about you.) But to not risk blogging in your comment area, I'll perhaps tell it to you sometime in person. Rumour has it you're coming to Regina....