I have one relative (my great-grandfather's first cousin) who was the first person in New Jersey convicted under Prohibition. The conviction was later overturned because the prosecution hadn't shown that he actually intended to sell the liquor -- they'd just shown that he accepted a huge shipment, and happened to own a tavern. He also testified in a case related to the Lindberg baby case (and as far as I can tell, his testimony was most likely entirely false.)

That's some good lawyering!

I have reasonable doubt that, while the liquor was never sold, it sure didn't go to waste.

Yeah. Pretty much all the lawyers and police officers involved in that case were accused of taking bribes at some point.

flops into thread exhausted

I can't really catch up. I've been stuck at a trade show the last couple days. Blah. That was non-fun enough but I was late getting there today because my son was suspended for 10 days from school. This with 13 days left. Then when I got to the show I decided to check my voice messages and I had a message from the other son's teacher about his failing grade.

Son is appealing the suspension. I get his points, but I keep trying to make him understand that The Teacher Is Always Right. He'll get it at some point. He wrote a long email to his other teachers explaining the situation and asking their support in the form of a statement that he is not an insubordinate kinda guy. Also soliciting statements from a large number of other students in this class. MySpace and email make this possible.

He is supposed to be able to come and take his exams in the office, but there are all the end of year group projects and so forth to coordinate.

Who knows how it will all end, but I do know it will be some type of learning experience.

Silver lining - I don't have to get up at 6am!

Love the new name PixChick. And smooches to Sail for being helpful chick.

So tired.

Thanks, Laura! So sorry about the headache with your son. You're absolutely right--it will work out--but it's so not fun in the meantime. Hang in there.

Okay, what the fuck? Honestly, I was in a hurry (to, um, get to a bar) when I called him, so I really wasn't listening that carefully. And I did pick up that he was reluctant. But - what the fuck did he say? And honestly, I can't imagine he said that much. But what he was thinking is pretty fucking clear. And pissing me off. (And hello - I asked for a week's worth of amoxycillin, not a month of fucking Oxycontin or Xanax or something

Um, yeah, that IS pretty weird. I mean, I can even understand that doctors and dentists may be reluctant to overprescribe antibiotics and possibly create resistance yadda yadda, but...WTF dude? I suppose you just have to go with the idea that at least he DID prescribe them, and clearly he ended up feeling bad, and if you like him in person, maybe give him the benefit of the doubt that he just expressed himself poorly? Maybe kinda tell him that next time you see him?

But yeesh. Imagine if you HAD been asking for some painkillers for the tooth that was WAKING YOU UP AT NIGHT.

I had to scroll back and read the dentist thing. Brenda, my take is that he normally is patient and nice on the phone but was curt and rude in his opinion. Maybe because of some other unrelated issue, or a recent serious drug seeking patient. He may not have even sounded all that insensitive to you but he may hold himself to a higher standard and genuinely feels bad that he didn't respond to you in the way you deserved.

I've also found three brothers who started out with the same last name in Poland, but in the US for some reason, one became Hochman and one became Hackman, and one seemed to use whichever suited him at the time.

I just did a show "Culture Clash in AmeriCCa" where the troupe (Culture Clash) interview a wide variety of folks in America. One interview was with a retired guy in Miami telling of his uncles & fathers arrival in America at Ellis Island. [paraphrase] "one came out Zimmerman, one came out Shimmerman, and my father came out Cinnamon!"

(eta the quote that prompted that lil tidbit)

t pedant Names didn't get changed at Ellis Island. The name recorded at Ellis Island was whatever name had been put down on the passenger list in Europe. t /pedant

(Who am I kidding? That tag never closes.)

Most of the big name changes I've been were within a year or so of immigration, where presumably the person just got fed up with no one being able to pronounce or spell their names the right way and just decided to go with the flow and spell or pronounce it the way everyone else was. Or, they just decided that the name wasn't working out, and picked something else.

I've read about a few instances where people have found letters that their relatives wrote back to the old country, saying, "Oh, by the way, our original name sounds funny here. I'm changing to to this. When you come over, give that as your name, so that it'll make things easier."