Ever noticed that many doctors have funny, sometimes ironic names — names like: Dr. Bayer (asprin anyone?), Dr. Killam (yikes), Dr. Mooney (something he sees a lot of), and Dr. Strong. We’ve all heard people express surprise at the name of many doctors and wonder how they could have gone into medicine. My parents dentist was named Dr. Mangle.
I started wondering whether it’s the last names that cause people to go into medicine or if instead, because we love to find meaning, that any random sample of names would generate funny meanings when the word Dr. is added to the front.
The four names above were generated as part of a thought experiment. They come from the 16 last names currently on Saturday Night Live cast.
Try it yourself. Take a random sample of last names, add Dr. to the front, and you’ll find similar surprising meanings. Not all things that we find significant are so.
[Photo Credit: Nikki McLeod]
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