Much damage has been caused by the two most recent feminine attacks on the United States, Katrina and Rita. Knowing little as I did some five minutes ago, I was enraged by the choice of names. I intended to write something about this issue in particular back when Katrina was the hottest news icon.
I could not see any reason for giving such a natural disaster a feminine name. I pondered upon the matter and decided it must have been chosen randomly. But once Rita lashed American coasts and being named as she was, some vision of a conspiracy theory started to weave itself in my head. Finally managing to prepare my case and present it to you, I resolved to search the matter first. I googled naming of hurricanes, and Lo and Behold I found many sites dealing with the issue.
The result that I was most interested in came from this site, and it featured an article titled Hurricane Center may run out of names by Ker Than. Grippingly, it turns out that feminists urged the WMO to add men’s names, which was done in 1979. The boy-girl-boy-girl naming convention evolved to include French and Spanish names in the Atlantic system, reflecting the languages of the nations affected by Carribean hurricanes.”
That indicated the collapse of my case concerning Katrina and Rita. I was nonetheless pleased to learn that male names were also chosen for such demonstrations of natural devastation; after all, we are equal for better and for worse.
There is an old English joke about this.
But I raised the question seriously the other day in the lab, I was told that the male names are also used, it is just that the most devastating hurricanes are given female names ;-)
I can not say I agree with that. The same article I quoted also mentions that “Each year, 21 common names are reserved for Atlantic Basin hurricanes, with the list arranged alphabetically and skipping certain letters. Rita is the 17th named storm in the Atlantic Basin this year.”
Follwing is the list reserved for this year’s hurricanes:
2005 Names
1. Arlene
2. Bret
3. Cindy
4. Dennis
5. Emily
6. Franklin
7. Gert
8. Harvey
9. Irene
10. Jose
11. Katrina
12. Lee
13. Maria
14. Nate
15. Ophelia
16. Philippe
17. Rita
18. Stan
19. Tammy
20. Vince
21. Wilma
And since we naturally do not learn about the minor hurricanes via the media,it is safe to say that it’s pure chance that two of the strongest this year have been given female names. It’s either that or some plot is underway to antagonise and/or diabolise females. Do I sound like an extremist? I certainly hope not. The article is really interesting.
I’d say its all about mother nature.
hmm…interesting to note that 1935 was the last time that all 21 names were used.
Talking of changing blogs, I use http://photobucket.com for my images…I can manipulate them better. I usually have to mess around with sizes and file formats before it shows properly. Trial and error.
Hope you can work it ok.
While trying to think of an alternative:
Body organs, Hurricane Liver or Hurricane Ear-wax.
Colors, “Hurricane Mauve”.
Naming hurricanes after Jurrasic (or any extinct) species was my best idea.
I feel guilty joking about hurricanes, Allah ye7mi il-jamee3.
I’ll comment in Arabic…
????? ????… ?????? ??? ????? ??? ?? ???? ?? ??? ???????… ?? ??? ??? ??? ????? ???????? ??? ???? ????? ???? ????? ???????? ?? ????? ????? ??? ?? ????? ???????? !!!! ??? ?? ???? ??? ??? ?????? ???? ??????? ????? ????? ??? ????? ???? ??????…
?? ??? ???? ????? “??? ??? ????? ???????” ?? ???? ????!!! ???? ???? ??? ????? ??? ?????? ?? ????? “??? ?? ????? ????????” ??????? ???? ????? ??????? ??????!!!
????? ???? ????? ??? ??? ??? ?????? ???? ?????? ?????? ?? ?? ?? ?????? ??? ??????? ??? ????? ??????? ??????? ?? ??? ??? ?? ?????? ??? ?????? ???. ???? ?? ????? ??????? ?? ?? ?????? ??? ??????? ???? ??????? ????…
?? ??? ??? ????? ??? ????????? ?? ???? ??????? ?????? ??? ??????? ???? ???? ????????:
http://www.theoi.com/Titan/Aiolos.html
http://www.theoi.com/Titan/AnemoiThuellai.html
SC, yes that poses a question too. Nature is female while god is normally male.
I really hope I can work it ok muppetlord, thank you for sharing that link with me. I appreciate it.
Samir, I really liked that suggestion. It’s conspiracy free and will not cause much trouble. But you never know,maybe one day science will be able to generate thinking organs. That in itself is a bit spooky,not to mention imagining a demonstration of thinking organs protesting against the naming of hurricanes.
Mahdy,certainly I agree with you that one’s stands on things depend largely on the “angle” from which one perceives things. I personally saw giving feminine names to hurricanes to be provocative. Why? because that’s the angle from which I looked at the matter.