Last night we had a parent teacher interview with our son Wally's teacher (who is hot by the way)

He told us mostly all the stuff we knew already, Wally could do much better if he concentrated, or applied himself etc. Then pulled this out of the blue:

"I've been calling him Walt" and asked if we wouldn't mind changing his name on the school roll, because he doesn't think Wally has the resilience to cope with any negative associations his name might have.

WTF!!!

I know there used to be Wally Walpameur ads and "don't be a Wally with water" campaigns on TV in the 80s or 90s, but I don't really think the younger generation would even KNOW about those. When movie Wall-E came out, all the kids loved that and thought he was cool

The teacher said that because the master and me weren't born in Australia, we might not be as aware of the negative impact his name might have.

My husband told him that when he was a kid "Leo Wanker" was a Paul Hogan skit character, and no kid was called Leo, except him. But, the teacher suggested, "you were probably a really resilient kid".

I didn't mention Charlotte the harlot or any number of other insults hurled in my direction, back when I was at school.

I think kids will victimise certain children no matter what their name is, teaching the kids resilience is what is the issue here. So far he has NOT been the victim of any kind of bullying or teasing in school and it may well be he never will be, do we change his name to remove a potential issue (that may well never arise)?

He's going to end up chosing his own name soon anyway.


I remember being called 'Donky' "onkerdonky" and underdog

Of course I was picked on horribly for many many other reasons, namely being the only Asian kind most of the other kids had ever seen in real life, so my early years in school were traumatic for more than just my name.

In the end, I settled on "Dan" because my health teacher refused to say "Daniel" cause he thought it was too cumbersome , but I started to like the name because he was hot....I often wanted him to say "Dan, can you..." Yes, the fuck I can!!!


In the military I ended up wanting my friends to call me 'donk' so it kind of came full circle. I ended up owning a varient of a nickname that I used to hate.



I don't know of any reason why Wally would traumatize the kid. Maybe the teacher is just being as protective as he can be.

Heeeeck! No! Thats your son! You chose what to name him.
Sounds like he has a problem with the name...


When I was in 4th grade. My teacher gave this kid Mikey a hard time. She refused to call him Mikey because she thought it was childish. And she told him he was going to grow up to be a criminal.
[Edited 9/9/09 18:32pm]

Fuck that. Call your kid by the name he likes. No need to encourage issues that aren't even there. And while your son's teacher may be very experienced w/kids, he's hardly a child psychologist and has no right to try to influence such a huge thing as your son's identity.

How old is your son? If he's old enough to go to school, he's old enough to decide what he wants to be called.

I went to school with a girl whose last name was Boughner. It was pronounced EXACTLY how you think.

What was even worse was when she and another girl with the last name Cox were in the same classroom. It was a 7th grade comedy bonanza.

The Boughner girl was used to it, though, and she actually had a good sense of humor about it...especially for a 7th grader. I mean, what else could she do?

I think it's silly to change your name for fear of getting teased. Believe me, if you don't have an obviously tease-friendly name, kids will find SOMETHING to call you. Take it from ol' Farton Barton.

Genesia said:

he'll be 8 in December
I agree, he should decide

Anxiety said:

my thoughts exactly!

Tell that bitch to go fuck herself.

Charlotte the harlot!?! That's BRILLIANT!

Anyway... uh... yeah, let Wally decide.

I say you start calling him Sparrow.

SCNDLS said:

Oh... and post pics of this teacher dude.

ZombieKitten said:

exactly.

I mean, how rude of the teacher, really.

Lammastide said:

he can say what he wants, he's excused because he's hot

anyway, he seems to think the name "Walt" is cool, and Wally doesn't mind.

How obnoxious.

CarrieMpls said:

Before he said it he apologised if we thought he was going out of line with his opinion, but we're pretty friendly and we've let him know how much we appreciate everything he does for our guys - he's the best grade 2 teacher at this school, everyone is clamouring to get their kids into his class, because this teacher really seems to care, perhaps in this case it's being over-protective, but he's been thinking about it and thought it important enough to mention to us, and we will of course consider it enough to ask Wally what he thinks (Wally was there last night during the interview).

I thought that these things were just possible to happen here in Portugal!
>I had a history similar to my son; his name is João Sebastião (it is common in mine country, the people having two proper names); and for the alphabetical order the teachers wanted always call him for João; but everyone treated him for Sebastião; he asked the teachers for they treat him for that name, and we never got...
Now those teachers' argument is still more fool!

Lammastide said:

I've just been googling him, no pics, BUT…
he's vegan apparently!

Fuck that. Either call him Wally, or let him decide what he prefers. I agree with those who say regardless of the name, kids will tease. I was christened "Joni Baloney" on the first day of kindergarten and my grade school friends still call me that sometimes. And if I had a $1 for everytime asked me where Chatchi was , I'd have....enough money for a night on the town!

And as the first name on birth certificate says Joni, I always correct anyone who dares to call me by the icky, old lady name of Joan.

I think this is the one of the awkward things I've ever heard.

I think the teacher was overreacting a little here. If your son hasn't so far had any problems I wouldn't worry about it. If HE wants to be called Walt then let him, but it's your kid. I think you should call him what you named him.

I got called Jill the Pill!

"Jill take a chill pill!

No matter what a kid's name is their gonna get teased at some point.

My friend got called Craig the peg leg.

ZombieKitten said:

>to be vegetarian is good; but can eat cow meat, once a week
behind very rigid attitudes they appear, a lot of times, people full of certainties and... plenty stupid!
> I went like this; vegetarian and full of done ideas; i didn't leave my son to play with pistols and only had wood toys.... and he made their pistols when it bit the bread
> if the teacher goes vegetarian tells him that all ended for killing any thing, per times it can by a name...

ingamilo said:

mine did exact same thing, they built things with lego and called them shooters - they didn't even know the word "gun" yet

hokie said:

We named him, but he has to live with it. If he says OK to Walt, we'll change it on the school roll on the advice of this teacher. I do think Wally is a diminutive name, probably even a little childish, but it sounds so nice to say out loud with the Australian accent anyway

OMG, this teacher is a bit insane

His name is fine! and if the other kids have a problem with it he can tell them to kick rocks!

thekidsgirl said:

It's fine in USA, he even mentioned that!!!

but here:

"An unfashionable person; one who is foolish, inept, or ineffectual. Also as a mild term of abuse". (Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd Edition 1989)

1984 The 'Don't be a Wally with Water' advertising campaign was launched aimed at changing people's attitudes to wasting water.

"Wally appeared in water conservation adverts a few years ago. A kind of accident-prone garden dag, he managed to waste water, generally in ways that involved him flooding his own garden and/or house, and looking like a complete drip. Each ad would end with the tagline "Don't be a Wally with water".

Does anyone know the origin of the phrase "what a wally". I first heard it used by people returning from the IOW pop festival in 1971. Any idea why?

I've heard "wally" used as a dismissive term for anyone the speaker finds boring. It might come from the idea, true or not, that Wallace is a very conventional, old-fashioned name given to boys who became very conventional, old-fashioned men. (It's true that you don't meet many Wallaces anymore.) I don't know, though.

"What a Wally!" is commonly used in Australia to mean "what an idiot!". There's a "don't waste water" ad campaign over here that's been running since the 1980's with the tagline "Don't be a Wally with water" (a moron called Wally does silly things throughout). The Clean Ocean group also hand out an annual "Water Wally award" to the worst "Water Wally". Using "Wally" to mean a fool, nitwit or drongo is certainy much older than this ad campaign, though.

So perhaps there was a famously stupid Walter?

well I guess you should leave the decision up to him

I didn't know Wally was such a controversial name!

thekidsgirl said:

The answer to this question:
Does anyone know the origin of the phrase "what a wally". I first heard it used by people returning from the IOW pop festival in 1971. Any idea why?


Wally

Although many people think that the Wally chant started at Weeley, ( lets face it '"Wally of Weeley "just has certain ring to it ) we believe it began in 1970 at the Isle Of Wight Festival , as Roger Gray testifies .

The Wally saga started at the IOW festival the year before. I was at both, and there must have been a fair number who were, so it's no surprise that the 'WALLY' chant started up again at Weeley. At the IOW in '70, my fiancee and I were sitting next to a crowd from Yeovil - sometime during (I think) the second day, in a break between bands, one of them said to his mates "Is that Wally over there?", pointing at someone picking their way through the crowd about 50 yards away. They agreed it was, and started shouting at him "Wally! Wally! Over here mate", etc. Within a minute, we, and others around, joined in, all shouting "Wally - over here". Soon, hundreds of people were shouting, and before the next band played, the chorus was taken up by thousands around the arena. The irony is that our neighbours never got to talk to Wally, because there were so many people shouting out his name from every direction, he (if he even realised it was him they were shouting for) never looked in their direction. So, as I said, with so many people from '70 IOW going to '71 Weeley, it's no surprise that the "Wally" shouts started again during the more boring moments.

Roger

Ernie Cole has another version

Hi
I've have just found your website and I notice the item regarding Wally. The story is correct- it did start at the IOW although I did not get to know Wally - but I do know he was Canadian. I know this as it was his two friends looking for him. They stepped over me and my pal Dave calling his name I asked 'what's the problem 'and their answer was ' we are lost and can not find our friend Wally' so doing the right thing we got out of our sleeping bags to give them a hand . The rest is history.
Regards
Ernie Cole

Other accounts from the IOW support this version, or instead of a person called Wally, the name applies to a dog, we have even had one guy claiming he was THE Wally, but he could not produce any corroborating evidence. Either way , the "Wally of Weeley" legend , is in some respects , a myth. Pity, as it makes nice alliteration....

The chant took a long time to wear thin , according to John E who wrote :

Just been reading about the Wally from Weeley/IOW chants. This was still going when I attended my first festival, Reading Rock, in 1983, don't know if it survived much later as I don't recall it at Knebworth in 1985....

John E

Anyway, it may have originated at a rock concert
Andy Roberts Arrival Black Widow Cactus Chicago David Bromberg Donovan Emerson Lake and Palmer Everyone Fairfield Parlour Family Gary Farr GilbertoGil Good News Groundhogs Hawkwind Heaven Howl Jethro Tull Jimi Hendrix Joan Baez John Sebastian Joni Mitchell Judas Jump Kathysmith Kris Kristofferson Leonard Cohen Lighthouse Melanie Mighty Baby Miles Davis Pentangle Procol Harum Ralph McTell Redbone Richie Havens Rosalie Sorrels Shawn Phillips Sly and the Family Stone Supertramp Taste Ten Years After Terry Reid The Doors The Moody Blues The Voices of East Harlem The Who Tiny Tim Tony Joe White

My now 26 year old son is named Angel. My husband wanted this name so bad because he was raised by his grandfather, Angel. As hispanics on the org will confirm, Angel is a very popular name in Mexico, but we live in the states.
I had the chicken pox in the first trimester, while pregnant with my son. He was born as healthy as can be, and I finally agreed, Angel would be his name. No sooner had we named him when all of the negativity towards his name started. People actually would tell us to our face we needed to change our son's name or he would be teased in school. In my son's 26 years, he was only teased twice about his name and that was in kindergarden. He is now a young professional writer, and his name set's him apart in a crowd.