Michael Bumple

According to George Newlin's book, Everyone in Dickens, volume 1, the only character in a Dickens novel with the name Michael is Michael Bumple.

Mike in the Middle

I awoke this morning curious about Michael as a middle name...how many people carry our moniker tucked neatly between their first and last names?

The Internet did not solve this mystery, but as usual, provided some interesting middle name information to share.

• Consider these Mikes:

Mike Nesmith, the Monkees guitarist who always wore a knit cap;
Michael Stipe, REM's frontman;
Mike Stanton, the Cincinnatti Reds relief pitcher,
and author Michael Crichton, best known for penning Jurrassic Park and creating the TV-series ER....

What have they in common? Michael is their MIDDLE name that they obviously prefer over their given labels: Robert Nesmith, John Stipe, William Stanton, and John Crichton.

Further shuffling through pages and pages of searches unearthed this Middle-Name gem:
Michael J. Fox's middle name is ANDREW. He replaced the "A" with a "J" to avoid the certain, yet tacky, teen-mag headlines: "Michael is A Fox."

And finally, according to a post in Lycos IQ, Mike Myers, the murderous character of Halloween fame, was given the middle name Audrey...well no wonder!

You Need a Mike

On this site, you can listen to stories: http://thestorytellersblog.blogspot.com/ It is an audioblog. But you need a mike if you want to contribute.

Ouch!

Heel spurs!

Someone told me the long trek across campus from the distant parking lot to University Hall would be healthful for me. They forgot to mention the need for appropriate shoes.

[New use for this blog--complaining about health issues?]

Rhetorically Speaking

Because we probably won't find any Michaels among the ancient Greek philosophers, let me offer Michel de Montaigne as the founding Mike for our rhetorical branch. Afterall, what is a blog, if not an essay* at explaining the world?

* ETYMOLOGY:
French essai, trial, attempt, from Old French, from essayer, to attempt, from Vulgar Latin *exagire, to weigh out, from Late Latin exagium, a weighing : Latin ex-, ex- + Latin agere, to drive; see ag- in Appendix I. V., from Middle English assaien, from Old French assaer, assaier, variant of essayer.