Is He or Is She?

Recently I heard Johnny Cash’s version of the Shell Silverstein song, “A Boy Named Sue.” (And you can bet I will be doing an article on Shell Silverstein real soon. That’s the way articles happen here, one article inspires another and then another.) Anyway, I was having an e-mail exchange with someone recently who is new to this blog. (Hi Christie!)

We were talking about men who have names that are traditionally women’s name. Sure there is always Terry, and Dale and most folks learned not to be gender specific when one of those names pops up. However, when you are talking about a subject of men with women’s names “A Boy Named Sue” always comes to mind. I know a man named Shirley. She knows a man named Lavern.

I told Christie about a publishing opportunity I absolutely blew because the publisher was named Kim and in e-mail correspondence I might have been a bit flirtatious. As it turned out Kim was a big bald guy with a bushy religious beard. There ought to be a law…damn it.