Stanley the Pup Helps Red Wings Bring Home Stanley the Cup

Congratulations to the Detroit Red Wings on bringing home the Stanley Cup

As I have mentioned previously, I am not a huge hockey fan, but if ever there was going to be a year that I really wanted to see the Red Wings win, it was this year. My heightened interest was due to our new puppy, Stanley. I like to think that my boys' choice in his name is what brought the Wings the luck they needed to win (not that they didn't have the skill).

At any rate, to bring some linguistic relevance to the Red Wings win, I want to point out a couple of Detroit Free Press headlines from today that demonstrate their editors' ability to have fun with words, specifically homophones.

On the front page, section A, main headline: Red Reign
A homophonic play on the phrase Red Rain. Red Rain is a phenomenon that occurred sporadically in 2001 in the southern Indian state Kerala. It is also the title of a song by Peter Gabriel and a song by The White Stripes ((a band from Detroit)) Coincidence? I think not).

On the front page of a special Red Wings section: 11th Our's
This is the 11th time the Red Wings have won the Stanley Cup and it is homophonic play on the phrase At the 11th Hour meaning at the last possible moment.

Thank you for the linguistic fun Free Press editors.

The Stanley Cup and the Semantics of Names

As much as I miss my dear dog, Augusta National or Gus, in consideration of my two sons and as a tribute to Gus, my husband and I decided to get a puppy as soon as we could - which ended up being Wednesday evening. At my one son's suggestion and at my husband's request, we named him Stanley, as in The Stanley Cup. Actually his full, AKC-registered name is Lord Stanley Valentino Payne (Valentino because he was born on Valentine's Day). I, myself, am not quite the sports fan that the rest of my family is, so when they said the name would be Lord Stanley, I thought they added the title Lord just to make him sound cooler. Little did I know that The Stanley Cup is named after Lord Stanley, the Earl of Preston and Governor General of Canada.

I guess, if you think about it, it seems obvious that The Stanley Cup and numerous other sports awards are named after people. However, being that I am not a huge sports fan, I never really thought about it.

Here are a few:
Baseball - Cy Young Award, after Cy Young
Football - Heisman Trophy, after John Heisman.
Football - Vince Lombardi Trophy (Super Bowl trophy), after Vince Lombardi
Basketball - Naismith Award, after James Naismith
Golf - Ryder Cup, after Samuel Ryder
Tennis - Davis Cup, after Dwight F. Davis

By the way, many of these names provide great inspiration for naming a pet. And even though the meaning of certain names may not be obvious to all, when a person chooses a name that means something to them, they know the meaning and that is the semantics of names.