Friday, September 05, 2008

The Top 40 NBA Surnames* That Make No** Sense (Part II.)


*Only American players were eligible
**In fact, too much sense to take them lightly and without fanfare


Rank - Name - Surname in English
[Surname in German - Surname in Spanish]

19. Eddie HOUSE
[Haus - Casa]
House generally refers to a shelter or building that is a dwelling or place for habitation by human beings. The term includes many kinds of dwellings ranging from rudimentary huts of nomadic tribes to high-rise apartment buildings. However, the word can also be used as a verb ("to house"), and can have adjectival formations as well. In some contexts, "house" may mean the same as dwelling, residence, home, abode, accommodation, housing, lodging, among other meanings.

18. Acie LAW (IV.)
[Recht - Derecha]
Law is a system of rules, usually enforced through a set of institutions. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus ticket to trading swaptions on a derivatives market. Property law defines rights and obligations related to transfer and title of personal and real property, for instance, in mortgaging or renting a home. Trust law applies to assets held for investment and financial security, such as pension funds. Tort law allows claims for compensation when someone or their property is injured or harmed. If the harm is criminalised in a penal code, criminal law offers means by which the state prosecutes and punishes the perpetrator. Constitutional law provides a framework for creating laws, protecting people's human rights, and electing political representatives. Administrative law relates to the activities of administrative agencies of government. International law regulates affairs between sovereign nation-states in everything from trade to the environment to military action. Law manifests itself throughout the community in many more ways, and serves as the foremost social mediator of relations between people. "The rule of law", wrote the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle in 350 BC, "is better than the rule of any individual." Legal systems around the world elaborate legal rights and responsibilities in different ways. A basic distinction is made between civil law jurisdictions and systems using common law. Some countries persist in basing their law on religious texts. Scholars investigate the nature of law through many perspectives, including legal history and philosophy, or social sciences such as economics and sociology. The study of law raises important and complex issues concerning equality, fairness, liberty and justice. "In its majestic equality", said the author Anatole France in 1894, "the law forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, beg in the streets and steal loaves of bread." The central institutions for interpreting and creating law are the three main branches of government, namely an impartial judiciary, a democratic legislature and an accountable executive. To implement and enforce the law and provide services to the public, a government's bureaucracy, the military and police are vital. While all these organs of the state are creatures created and bound by law, an independent legal profession and a vibrant civil society inform and support their progress.

17. Carlos BOOZER
[Trinker - Bebedor]
Boozer may refer to:
-A person who boozes (drinks alcohol), especially one who drinks to excess
-Slang for pub, a drinking establishment which sells beer in a homely setting
-Slang for an unwise person (dummy).
-The "Boolean zero-one reduction" program used to find minimum expressions for logic systems
-A device used in Second World War British bomber aircraft to alert the crew that they were being tracked by enemy radar
-A dog who served as mascot to the military base on Shemya Island, whose name may be a combination of the first, second, and fifth definitions above.

16. Steven HUNTER - Othello Hunter
[Jäger - Cazador]
Hunting is the practice of pursuing animals for food, recreation, or trade. In modern use, the term refers to regulated and legal hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of animals contrary to law. Hunted animals are referred to as game animals, and are usually large or small mammals, migratory gamebirds, or non-migratory gamebirds. Hunting can also involve the elimination of vermin as a means of pest control. Hunting advocates claim that hunting can be a necessary component of modern wildlife management, for example to help maintain a population of healthy animals within an environment's ecological carrying capacity when natural checks such as predators are absent. In the United States, wildlife managers are frequently part of hunting regulatory and licensing bodies, where they help to set rules on the number, manner and conditions in which game may be hunted. The pursuit, capture and release, or capture for food of fish is called fishing, which is not commonly categorized as a kind of hunting. Trapping is also usually considered a separate activity. Neither is it considered hunting to pursue animals without intent to take them, as in wildlife photography or birdwatching. The practice of hunting for plants or mushrooms is a colloquial term for gathering.

15. TJ FORD
[Ford - Ford]
Ford (Motor Company) is an American multinational corporation and the world's fourth largest automaker based on worldwide vehicle sales, following Toyota, General Motors and Volkswagen. Based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, the automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury brands sold in the US and elsewhere, Ford's international brands also include Volvo of Sweden; and Ford owns a one-third controlling interest in Mazda of Japan, and a small holding in former subsidiary Aston Martin of England. Ford's former UK subsidiaries Jaguar and Land Rover were sold to Tata Motors of India in March 2008. Ford introduced methods for large-scale manufacturing of cars and large-scale management of an industrial workforce, using elaborately engineered manufacturing sequences typified by moving assembly lines. Henry Ford's methods came to be known around the world as Fordism by 1914.

14. Elton BRAND
[Brand - Brand]
A brand is a collection of images and ideas representing an economic producer; more specifically, it refers to the descriptive verbal attributes and concrete symbols such as a name, logo, slogan, and design scheme that convey the essence of a company, product or service. Brand recognition and other reactions are created by the accumulation of experiences with the specific product or service, both directly relating to its use, and through the influence of advertising, design, and media commentary. A brand is a symbolic embodiment of all the information connected to a company, product or service. A brand serves to create associations and expectations among products made by a producer. A brand often includes an explicit logo, fonts, color schemes, symbols and sound which may be developed to represent implicit values, ideas, and even personality. The key objective is to create a relationship of trust. The brand, and "branding" and brand equity have become increasingly important components of culture and the economy, now being described as "cultural accessories and personal philosophies".

13. Caron BUTLER - Rasual Butler
[Lakai - Sirviente]
A butler is a senior servant in a large household. In the great houses of the past, the household was sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantries. Some also have charge of the entire parlour floor, and housekeepers caring for entire house and its appearance. Housekeepers are occasionally portrayed in literature as being the most senior staff member and as even making recommendations for the hiring of the butler.

12. Jason HART
[Hirsch - Ciervo]
The Red Deer (Cervus elaphus), commonly called hart in the United Kingdom, is one of the largest deer species. The Red Deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Asia Minor and parts of western and central Asia. It also inhabits the Atlas Mountains region between Algeria and Tunisia in northwestern Africa, being the only species of deer to inhabit Africa. Red Deer have been introduced to other areas including Australia, New Zealand and Argentina. In many parts of the world the meat (venison) from Red Deer is widely used as a food source. Red Deer are ruminants, characterized by an even number of toes, and a four-chambered stomach. Recent DNA evidence indicates that the Red Deer (Cervus elaphus) and the East Asian and North American Elk (Wapiti, Cervus canadensis) represent two distinct species. They give also hint for an additional primordial subgroup of Central Asian Red Deer. The ancestor of all Red Deer probably originated in Central Asia and probably resembled Sika Deer. Although at one time Red Deer were rare in some areas, they were never close to extinction. Reintroduction and conservation efforts, especially in the United Kingdom, have resulted in an increase of Red Deer populations, while other areas, such as North Africa, have continued to show a population decline.

11. Nazr MOHAMMED
[Mohammed - Mohammed]
Muhammad ibn Abdullah [=Mohammed] (ca. 570 Mecca - June 8, 632 Medina), is the central human figure of the religion of Islam and is regarded by Muslims as the messenger and prophet of Allah, the last and the greatest in a series of prophets of Islam. Muslims consider him the restorer of the uncorrupted original monotheistic faith (islam) of Adam, Abraham, Moses, Noah and other prophets of Islam. He was also active as a diplomat, merchant, philosopher, orator, legislator, reformer, military general, and, for Muslims and followers of several other religions, an agent of divine action. Born in 570 CE in the Arabian city of Mecca, he was orphaned at a young age and was brought up under the care of his uncle. He later worked mostly as a merchant, and was first married by age 25. Discontented with life in Mecca, he retreated to a cave in the surrounding mountains for meditation and reflection. According to Islamic beliefs it was here, at age 40, in the month of Ramadan, where he received his first revelation from God. Three years after this event Muhammad started preaching these revelations publicly, proclaiming that "God is One", that complete "surrender" to Him (lit. islam) is the only way acceptable to God, and that he himself was a prophet and messenger of God, in the same vein as Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus and other prophets in Islam. Muhammad gained few followers early on, and was met with hostility from some tribes of Mecca; he was treated harshly and so were his followers. To escape persecution Muhammad and his followers migrated to Medina (then known as Yathrib) in the year 622. This event, the Hijra, marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar. In Medina Muhammad managed to unite the conflicting tribes, and after eight years of fighting with the Meccan tribes, his followers, who by then had grown to ten thousand, conquered Mecca. In 632 a few months after returning to Medina from his Farewell pilgrimage, Muhammad fell ill and died. By the time of his death most of the Arabian Peninsula had converted to Islam and he united the tribes of Arabia into a singular Muslim religious polity. The revelations (or Ayats, lit. "Signs of God"), which Muhammad reported receiving until his death, form the verses of the Qur'an, regarded by Muslims as the “word of God”, around which his religion is based. Besides the Qur'an, Muhammad’s life (sira) and traditions (sunnah) are also upheld by Muslims. They discuss Muhammad and other prophets of Islam with reverence, adding the phrase peace be upon him whenever their names are mentioned. While conceptions of Muhammad in medieval Christendom and premodern times were largely negative, appraisals in modern times have been far less so. Besides this, his life and deeds have been debated by followers and opponents over the centuries.

-TOP 10-

10. Alando TUCKER*
[How to say “bib” in German or Spanish? I don’t have a child, so you gotta look it up yourself)
Tucker may refer to:
-Tucker, an Australian word for food in general
-Bush tucker, an Australian word for food obtained from the bush
-Tucker decomposition, a mathematical decomposition for tensors
-Tuckerization, the act of using a person's name in an original story as an in-joke.
-[=bib*] An item of clothing for babies tied around their neck to protect their clothes from getting dirty when eating.

9. Rudy GAY
[Gay - Gay]
In the English language, "gay" is an adjective that in modern usage refers to homosexuality. In earlier and in literary usage, the word means "carefree," "happy," or "bright and showy." From the 1890s, it had begun to carry a connotation of promiscuity, as in a "gay house" referring to a brothel. It began to be used in reference to homosexuality in particular from the early 20th century, from the 1920s at the latest. Among younger generations, the word 'gay' sometimes has a non-sexual pejorative meaning, equivalent to 'rubbish' or 'stupid'. Some view this as homophobic, though others cite it as an example of the evolution of living language, pointing out that some who use it do not intend it to have any relation to the meaning of the word as homosexual.

8. Travis OUTLAW
[Räuber - Bandido]
An outlaw or bandit is a person living the lifestyle of outlawry; the word literally means "outside the law", by folk-etymology from the original meaning "laid outside" of the Old Norse word “utlagi”, from which the word outlaw was borrowed into English. In the common law of England, a judgment declaring someone an outlaw, known as a "Writ of Outlawry", was one of the harshest penalties in the legal system, since the outlaw could not use the legal system to protect himself if needed, such as from mob justice. Though the judgment of outlawry is now obsolete (even though it inspired the pro forma Outlawries Bill which is still to this day introduced in the British House of Commons during the State Opening of Parliament), romanticised outlaws became stock characters in several fictional settings, particularly in Western movies. Thus, "outlaw" is still commonly used to mean those violating the law or, by extension, those living that lifestyle, whether actual criminals evading the law or those merely opposed to "law-and-order" notions of conformity and authority (such as the "outlaw country" music movement in the 1970s).

7. Eric SNOW
[Schnee - Nieve]
Snow is a type of precipitation in the form of crystalline water ice, consisting of a multitude of snowflakes that fall from clouds. The process of precipitation is called snowfall. Since snow is composed of small ice particles, it is a granular material. It has an open and therefore soft structure, unless packed by external pressure. The METAR code for snow is SN.

6. Jamario MOON
[Mond - Luna]
The Moon (Latin: Luna) is Earth's only natural satellite and the fifth largest natural satellite in the Solar System. The average centre-to-centre distance from the Earth to the Moon is 384,403 km, about thirty times the diameter of the Earth. The Moon's diameter is 3,474 km, a little more than a quarter that of the Earth. This means that the Moon's volume is about 2 percent that of Earth and the pull of gravity at its surface about 17 percent that of the Earth. The Moon makes a complete orbit around the Earth every 27.3 days (the orbital period), and the periodic variations in the geometry of the Earth–Moon–Sun system are responsible for the lunar phases that repeat every 29.5 days (the synodic period). The Moon is the only celestial body to which humans have travelled and upon which humans have landed. The first artificial object to escape Earth's gravity and pass near the Moon was the Soviet Union's Luna 1, the first artificial object to impact the lunar surface was Luna 2, and the first photographs of the normally occluded far side of the Moon were made by Luna 3, all in 1959. The first spacecraft to perform a successful lunar soft landing was Luna 9, and the first unmanned vehicle to orbit the Moon was Luna 10, both in 1966. The United States (U.S.) Apollo program achieved the only manned missions to date, resulting in six landings between 1969 and 1972. Human exploration of the Moon ceased with the conclusion of the Apollo program, although several countries have announced plans to send people or robotic spacecraft to the Moon.

-TOP 5-

5. Derrick ROSE - Malik Rose
[Rose - Rosa]
A rose is a perennial flowering shrub or vine of the genus Rosa, within the family rosaceae, that contains over 100 species. The species form a group of erect shrubs, and climbing or trailing plants, with stems that are often armed with sharp thorns. Most are native to Asia, with smaller numbers of species native to Europe, North America, and northwest Africa. Natives, cultivars and hybrids are all widely grown for their beauty and fragrance. The leaves are alternate and pinnately compound, with sharply toothed oval-shaped leaflets. The plants fleshy edible fruit is called a rose hip. Rose plants range in size from tiny, miniature roses, to climbers that can reach 20 metres in height. Species from different parts of the world easily hybridize, which has given rise to the many types of garden roses.

4. Brevin KNIGHT
[Fürst - Principe]
Knight is the English term for a social position originating in the Middle Ages. In the Commonwealth of Nations, knighthood is a non-heritable form of gentry. Elsewhere, the Spanish Caballero (related to "chivalry"), the Italian Cavaliere, the German Ritter (related to the English word "Rider" and the Swedish word Riddare), or the Polish Kawaler (for Modern Era knighthoods or Rycerz for medieval knighthoods) are commonly used in Continental Europe. Outside the British Commonwealth, the title is respected but may carry less significance, and thus may or may not appear, for example, in the mass media and other publications. There are technically differing levels of knighthood, but in practice these are even more symbolic than the title itself today and thus only express the greatness of the recipient's achievements in the eyes of the Crown. The British legend of King Arthur, popularised throughout Europe in the Middle Ages by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Historia Regum Britanniae ("History of the Kings of Britain") written in the 1130s, and Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur (The Death of Arthur) written in 1485, were important in defining the ideal of chivalry which is essential to the European ideal of the knight as an elite warrior sworn to uphold the values of faith, loyalty, courage and honour such as Knights Templar.

3. Tayshaun PRINCE
[Prinz - Principe]
Prince, from the Latin root princeps, is a general term for a monarch, for a member of a monarch's or former monarch's family, and is a hereditary title in some members of Europe's highest nobility. The female equivalent is a princess.

2. Kevin LOVE
[Liebe - Amor]
Love represents a range of emotions and experiences related to the senses of affection and sexual attraction. The word love can refer to a variety of different feelings, states, and attitudes, ranging from generic pleasure to intense interpersonal attraction. This diversity of meanings, combined with the complexity of the feelings involved, makes love unusually difficult to consistently define, even compared to other emotional states.As an abstract concept love usually refers to a strong, ineffable feeling towards another person. Even this limited conception of love, however, encompasses a wealth of different feelings, from the passionate desire and intimacy of romantic love to the nonsexual. Love in its various forms acts as a major facilitator of interpersonal relationships and, owing to its central psychological importance, is one of the most common themes in the creative arts. Spiritual love, or longing for God, is highly valued and sought after by many religions of both Eastern and Western origin.

-And The Winner Is... My Personal Favorite Surname...-

1. DJ STRAWBERRY
[Erdbeere - Fresa]
Garden strawberries are a common variety of strawberry cultivated worldwide. Like other species of Fragaria (strawberries), it belongs to the family Rosaceae. Technically it is not a fruit although it is known as an accessory fruit, in that the fleshy part is derived not from the plant's ovaries (achenes) but from the peg at the bottom of the bowl-shaped hypanthium that holds the ovaries. The Garden Strawberry was first bred in Europe in the early 18th century, and represents the accidental cross of Fragaria virginiana from eastern North America, which was noted for its flavor, and Fragaria chiloensis from Chile, which was noted for its large size.

I hope you enjoyed my Top 40. Thanks for reading.

p.s.: hmm, weird times in the n.b.a. ... manu’s ankle injured again (get well soon!), ellis’ fishy high ankle sprain (did he chase bears, sharks or what?!?), rooks Chalmers & Arthur caught with pot (a.k.a. weed, a.k.a. marijuana) at rookie camp (how dumb!), so tonight’s Hall of Fame Ceremony (Hakeem, Ewing, Riley, Dantley, etc.) saves the day and the whole Association!

Posted by Foreigner in CS - Sep 5 2008 9:43AM

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