Also, theories about pet names (I had five minutes to waste last night, and lo, did I waste it.)

[featherynscale]

Last night we came to the conclusion that virtually every element on the periodic table would make a good name for a cat. Boron, a russian blue. Strontium, a tabby tom. Ytterbium, a tuxedo cat. Plutonium, a tiny fluffy grey kitten. And so on. So I ask kittenpants about Neodymium. She responds, "Of course! Little black cat. You could call it Neo, and everyone would think you were a Matrix fan, but the truth would be so much dorkier."

In addition, the names of mathematicians and physicists seem to make fine names for dogs. Wronski (dachshund), Mandelbrot (great dane), Lorenz (schnauzer), Feynmann (wire-haired terrier), Gell-Mann (rottweiler), and so on. This string-theory guy, Swimme, he's probably out of the dog-name running, but mostly it seems to work out.

Discuss.

EDIT: We also decided that if we were going to re-name our cat after a chemical element, her name would be Lithium. Which is probably better than Parsnip, which was the last thing we thought we might want to re-name the cat.

FURTHER EDIT: Maybe Lorenz would be a better name for a chihuahua. They're much more sensitive to changes in conditions. (I should stop thinking about this.)

Comments

[celticwhistlin.livejournal.com]

Swimme, he's probably out of the dog-name running, but mostly it seems to work out.

Still a dog name. Same application as the Neo comment. Applies to a water dog. It's not swim it's Swimme, the string-theory theorist...

or not.

[archway.livejournal.com]

~SNORK!LOL!giggles!~
Oh, yay intelligent humor!

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

So, maybe an otterhound? I adore otterhounds.

[zylch.livejournal.com]

I was thinking lab, myself.

[fionnabhar.livejournal.com]

Swimme=Water Spaniel. The one in this picture kind of looks like Isaac Newton.

http://www.gotpetsonline.com/pictures-gallery/dog-pictures-breeders-puppies-rescue/irish-water-spaniel-pictures-breeders-puppies-rescue/pictures/irish-water-spaniel-0003.jpg

Physicists as dog names

[gamera-spinning.livejournal.com]

There's also Bohr (Danish-Swedish Farm Dog)

Huh.

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

For a dog, that dog *does* look surprisingly like Isaac Newton.

[rfunk.livejournal.com]

I can't quite imagine a cat named Tin. I would like to see the cat named Seaborgium though.

Ununseptium would be the gray cat that gets lost all the time.

Does it matter whether your cat is a metal, semiconductor, noble gas, and so on?


Of course, you could also combine the cat and dog naming, e.g. a dog named Einstein and a cat named Einsteinium. OK, that might get a bit confusing.

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

I think Tin and Lead are the worst of the bunch (although Stannium and Plumbum would be okay). Seaborgium could be a huge white short-hair, in my humble opinion.

We did briefly discuss the classification of cats last night, although only to the extent that kittenpants decided that although our cat was certainly inert, she had a hard time picturing the cat as a noble gas.

Re: Physicists as dog names

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

I think in the case of Bohr, I'd opt to call the dog Neils, but that could just be me.

[zylch.livejournal.com]

I can't quite imagine a cat named Tin

What about a cat named Stannum? (source of tin's chemical symbol, Sn)

[celticwhistlin.livejournal.com]

My first suggestion was going to be a Golden, but I think a Black Lab

[kittenpants.livejournal.com]

I still say our cat is Lead. She's dense, pliable, prone to get stuck in windows, and mildly toxic to our allergic friends.

Would Plumbum be better? I mean, it's the Latin, and the derivation of the symbol, Pb.

[celticwhistlin.livejournal.com]

although our cat was certainly inert, she had a hard time picturing the cat as a noble gas.

I would have to agree with that...

[kittenpants.livejournal.com]

Aw yeah, "Stannum" is totally a grey tabby tomcat.

[liquidfun.livejournal.com]

I'm enough of a geek that in college I had a guinea pig named Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky (mostly known for work in geometry), just because it is such a fun name to say ...

[orcjohn.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine has named his dogs Einstein (basset hound) and Darwin (Beagle).

[druidevo.livejournal.com]

Maxwell? A sled dog maybe?


Noam Chomsky would have to be a Chimp

[jaiwitchy.livejournal.com]

I agree with the cat part, but not entirely sure on the dog part. However I do want to thank you for being one of the few people to spell dachshund right. Although mine is named Diva, and lives up to the title,I was thinking maybe nameing cats after royalty or such and dogs after politicians...

[infintysquared.livejournal.com]

Does this have anything to do with Wapsi Square?

Stray cat gets named Selenium, oddball friend posts about elemental pet names. Hrmmm.

[kittenpants.livejournal.com]

*high-fives*

It does. I had just read Wapsi and made the comment about cats + elements to featherynscale, and then it all went from there.