The Americanization of Al...

This weekend was, of course, a holiday weekend here. It was the celebration of American independence from England way back in 1776. These days, we celebrate it by waving the flag, festooning our yards with red, white and blue, eating lots of bratwursts and drinking cold beer. The bratwurst is purely a Wisconsin thing. I'm sure in other areas of the US they have chicken, ribs, hamburgers and hot dogs. In Wisconsin if you're not eating a brat at a picnic you must be from Illinois.

This weekend we were at my niece's house for a huge blast of a party. So much food and drink and it was hot. I'm talking desert hot. Humidity that melted you even if you were in the shade. But it was fun so we sweltered through it. While there, we were commenting on how many different variations of Alexander's name my family has come up with. When they first met him, 5 years ago, some of them simply could not remember the name "Alex" and would call him "Eric". Why, you may ask? They associated the name "Eric" with Norway. So even though Alexander is from Sweden they associated him with Norway and called him Eric. Parts of my family are weird.

Once the got to know him, the name became Alec. With a C. Not an X. Also wrong. There's one whole faction of my family who can't say his name with an X. I have no idea why.

This weekend, my sister Patsy, started calling him "Al". Alright, that's where we draw the line! He is not an AL. She said that was the "American version" of his name. I had to point out that I have met other Americans named Alex before and that Alex wasn't necessarily an exotic, unpronounceable name! Alex has been a good sport throughout all of this. But he is Alexander. Always Alexander, sometimes Alex, but mostly Alexander! Not, for the love of all that's holy, AL!

Happy Independence Day!