J.Friedman: I'm sorry to disagree, Matt, but I have
here a book of surnames in a variety of languages: /What's in a Name:Surnames of
America/ by La Reina Rule and William K.Hammond... a book in English can discuss
names from other languages...
W. of R: For the benefit of
old-fashioned readers who wish to follow the destinies of the "real" people
beyond the "true" story, a few details may be given.
Mr."Windmuller," of "Ramsdale," desires his identity
suppressed so that "the long shadow of this sorry and sordid business" should
not reach the community to which he is proud to belong". Actually, my name is Allen a
Dale ( we know that " Dale is often "dall"; Tindall stands for Tyne-dale.
Udall is the yew-dale. Sometimes Dale is corrupted into "dow" or "daw," as
Lindow or Lindaw" ) and, besides, there
was an Opal Something, and Linda Hall, and Avis Chapman, and Eva Rosen, and
Mona Dahl (save one, all these names are approximations, of course) -- not
only the Homo
pollex of science, with all its many sub-species and forms; the modest
soldier, spic and span, quietly waiting, quietly conscious of khaki's viatic
appeal; the schoolboy wishing to go two blocks; the killer wishing to go two
thousand miles; the mysterious, nervous, elderly gent, with brand-new suitcase
and clipped mustache; a trio of optimistic Mexicans; the college student
displaying the grime of vacational outdoor work as proudly as the name of the
famous college arching across the front of his sweatshirt; the desperate lady
whose battery has just died on her; the clean-cut, glossy-haired, shifty-eyed,
white-faced young beasts in loud shirts and coats, vigorously, almost
priapically thrusting out tense thumbs to tempt lone women or sadsack salesmen
with fancy cravings.
( quotes by real JM)