Monday, October 22, 2012

The awkward moment when you finally understand the Spice Girls naming conventions.


This is here for the cuteness factor.

So, I was reading this article on how Americans are apparently adopting Bristishisms wholesale. (For the record, I don’t buy it. I've never heard an American say “Bob’s your uncle” or “barmy” unless he was imitating a British person. It’s gonna take a lot more than a love of Downton Abbey for Cockney rhyming slang to gain a foothold here.) Anyway, that article linked to another article which mentioned that the term “ginger,” meaning “redhead,” was popularized by the delight that is Ron Weasley, although “singer Geri Halliwell, aka Ginger Spice, also played her part in making the term better known.”

And then I stopped cold.

 Wait. They called her Ginger Spice because she had red hair? This was a revelation to me. I knew Brits called redheads “ginger” but I never connected that to Ginger Spice.

So, why had I previously thought she was called Ginger? Yes, that's right. Because ginger is a spice, obviously. In fact, I thought she was the only one of the five who was logically named. "They’re called 'The Spice Girls,' yet only one is actually named for a spice. Why are they calling her 'Sporty'? Why aren't they calling her, like, “Cinnamon” or something?"

Not my best day.

7 comments:

Lex said...

This is quite hilarious.

Jimmy Jam said...

I say Bob's your uncle all the time.

Ali said...

For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn?

Ali said...

That's not fair, James. Bob really is your uncle.

Kristen said...

I fall into the British slang sometimes. But most of it I learned from Stewie.

Ali said...

What the deuce?

Unknown said...

I always had to be Ginger Spice when me and my sisters played Spice Girls.