Leave it to Blakk Frogg to stumble over Harry Baals in the news, right?
Apparently a man had that name in the mid 1900’s and did a good job as Mayor in an Indiana town… but probably won’t get a building named after him in his honor because simple-minded people (like Blakk Frogg) might use the actual pronunciation of the man’s name as the butt of a joke.
FORT WAYNE, Ind. — A former Indiana mayor who won four terms in the 1930s and 1950s is proving less popular with modern-day city leaders, who say they probably won’t name a new government center for him because of the jokes his moniker could inspire.
Harry Baals is the runaway favorite in online voting to name the new building in Fort Wayne, about 120 miles northeast of Indianapolis. But Deputy Mayor Beth Malloy said that probably won’t be enough to put the name of the city’s longest-tenured mayor on the center.
The issue is pronunciation. The former mayor pronounced his last name “balls.” His descendants have since changed it to “bales.”
Supporters said it’s unfair that the former mayor can’t be recognized simply because his name makes some people snicker. But opponents fear that naming the center after Baals would make Fort Wayne the target of late-night television jokes. ( source )
Having said that, Blakk Frogg has often wondered why people give their children names that will get them made fun of throughout grammar school, picked on in middle school and possible beat up routinely in high school.
Just IMAGINE the torment that Harry Baals went through as a young man… To quote Marlon Brando, “The Horrors… The Horrors…”
Harry Baals did not suffer alone
In his younger years Blakk Frogg had the fortunate pleasure of stumbling across another person with a truly condemning name: Harry Woodcock.
Really? WTF, people? What drugs did the parents take right before answering the question of what they want to name their children? Or, did the parents secretly not want the kids and take out their aggressions by giving them a lifetime of teasing?
We will probably never know, but one thing we know for sure: People with names like Harry Woodcock and Harry Baals have had verrrrry rough lives and have wanted to off their parents from the very first time a kid on the school bus made fun of their name.
