this post was submitted on 30 Jun 2025
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Nominative Determinism

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Nominative determinism is the hypothesis that people tend to gravitate towards areas of work that fit their names. The term was first used in the magazine New Scientist in 1994, after the magazine's humorous "Feedback" column noted several studies carried out by researchers with remarkably fitting surnames. These included a book on polar explorations by Daniel Snowman and an article on urology by researchers named Splatt and Weedon. These and other examples led to light-hearted speculation that some sort of psychological effect was at work.

This is a community for posting real-world examples of names that by coincidence are funny in context. A link to the article or site is preferable, as well as a screenshot of the funny name if it's not in the headline. Try not to repost, and keep it fun!

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[–] Successful_Try543@feddit.org 6 points 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Your maths is weird:
650 km/h is about 180 m/s.
Linear acceleration from 0 to 180 m/s in 7 s means 25.8 m/s^2 or about 2.6 g.

[–] smeg@feddit.uk 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Haha whoops, I did the conversion upside down, don't get on any trains I've built!

[–] Successful_Try543@feddit.org 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Doesn't matter, as long as you're not a railway engineer :-p

[–] smeg@feddit.uk 3 points 1 day ago