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Last year he was involved in three scandals of the blogosphere: Crackergate, Expelled from Expelled, and... I can't remember the third one. If anyone reminds me, I will update. [Update 4/12: The third scandal I was trying to recall was PZ's involvement in eliminating the promotional deal between the Creation Museum and the Cincinatti Zoo. Thanks to Pierce R. Butler.]
Together these put him solidly in the public light, and for many people in a severely bad one. As a consequence his good name has been all over the media in the past year, with a lot of calls for prayer and lawsuits alike.
Here is my observation: People who like Dr. Myers call him PZ. People who hate him call him Paul Zachary.
No Pharyngulite with respect for herself refers to him as Paul Zachary Myers, while it is the preferred designation among his detractors.
For example...
The producers of Expelled: No intelligence Allowed hate him (cached page): Big Science’s Thought Police: Protesting too much
The Catholics really hate him: Catholic League, Catholic News Agency
Bloggers who hate him:
Professor Paul Zachary Myers, Bigot
Paul Zachary Myers - The Epitome of Liberal Intolerance
Paul Zachary Myers: Evolutionist and Now Imminent Desecrator
I am not saying that there aren't exceptions; at least I have seen examples of his foes writing "PZ". Accepting this otherwise clear trend, I am compelled to ask why that is: Why is that?
- Do people think using initials only is endearing?
- Do people who don't like him hope that revealing his full name will increase the chance of legal repercussions?
- Do his foes believe that the use of his full name holds some magic power over him?
- All of the above?
I agree. I have noticed that too. Calling him PZ seems more friendly. Of course some of us call him "Cthulhu"...
ReplyDeleteCthulhu fhtagn!
I'll count that as one who would say that using "PZ" is too friendly for his detractors, then.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the origin of Cthulhu? Some cephalopod thing, right? And fhtagn?
He BZ Ostman!
ReplyDeleteOkay, now we only have to correlate spelling errors to the Paul Zachary usage, and we can test your theory...
Cheers AH
Cthulhu is an octopus-like creation by H. P. Lovecraft:
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cthulhu
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._P._Lovecraft
"Cthulhu fhtagn" roughly equals "Cthulhu waits dreaming".
This could just tell you where the person first heard Myers' name. Does he calls himself PZ on his blog, while newspaper articles use his full name?
ReplyDeleteAlso, even though the initials PZ are unusual it's possible that there is at least one other PZ Myers out there. If you're going to be saying something detrimental about someone you should at least be clear who you're talking about.
Mike, that's very true. If they read his blog first, then they are likely to call him PZ. If they heard about him via Bill Donahue, then they could copy the full name usage from there.
ReplyDeleteI doubt your other suggestion, that they want to make sure they get the person right, is the real reason, though.
I wish some of his adversaries would tell me...
I was thinking it's more like how mothers scold their children: "Paul Zachary Myers, you come down here right this instant!"
ReplyDelete"Paul Zachary Myers, you come down here right this instant!"
ReplyDeleteYes, that's one I meant by the first hypothesis. It conveys a sense of admonishment.
I think it's because the initials 'PZ' have a certain air to them, for those in the know. They convey the full rampaging power of Pharyngula, compactly expressed in a mere two letters.
ReplyDeleteSaying 'Paul Zachary' is a feeble way to try to convince themselves that they are dealing with a mere man, rather than the Terrible Giant Squid.
My guess is that they call him by his legal name because he prefers to go by his initials--sort of a passive-aggressive way to take a dig at him.
ReplyDeleteLeon
I seem to remember Fox News referring to Barack Obama as Barack Hussein Obama a lot.
ReplyDeleteAlso James Randi is referred to by some people who don't like him as Randall Zwinge (his birth name).
It doesn't seem to be an issue of initials.
I think it could be about people trying to imply that these figures are presenting a false identity which they can unmask.
To make him sound like a serial killer.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'd bet the most common name his enemies call him is PZ Meyers
"To make him sound like a serial killer."
ReplyDeleteDefinitely one possibility. I remember reading an observation that famous killers are always called by their full name. You never hear anyone say "Lee Oswald," for example. It's always "Lee Harvey Oswald" or "John Wilkes Booth."
Zachary sounds like a biblical name, so they think that mentioning it may piss him off.
ReplyDeleteI think it's the same reason your mom calls you by your full name when you're in deep trouble.
ReplyDeleteAmerican culture has this thing where speaking an individual's full name = they really stepped in it this time!
Perhaps because it's easier to misspell Paul Zachary Myers rather than PZ. Most seem to thrive on misspellings and bad grammar. I don't know why but reading any hate mail or spamming and it's a very central theme.
ReplyDeleteReminds me of the tendency of my gym teachers to scream out my full name when I wasn't standing on the line properly (back when I was going through middle school and high school).
ReplyDeleteMy gym teachers were idiots, these people are idiots. I hypothesize that the same psychology is at work in either case.
I was under the impression that he preferred to be called PZ, so to deviate from this is a sign of disrespect.
ReplyDeleteI think some of his detrators use Paul Zachary to remind him of the bibilical roots of his name. Also, I agree that not using PZ is a sign of disrespect as others have mentioned.
ReplyDeleteI mean, he is very naughty! The poor little cracker. What did it ever to the Paul Zachary! (Okay, just kidding.)
My thoughts are a little more pessimistic. I'm thinking they use his full name in hopes that one of their even crazier fundie friends will have a much easier time finding out where he lives to "eliminate" the problem. As much as I hate to say it, I think even a select few in the YouTube atheist community seem to be trying to do the same thing to VenomFangX.
ReplyDeleteCitizen Z wrote: "And I'd bet the most common name his enemies call him is PZ Meyers."
ReplyDeleteMaybe, though not intentionally. A few years ago it had become quite the sport for a while on talk.origins and the Panda's Thumb to find the best way to misspell his name in a way that still fit the same soundex. There are a surprising number of options.
What if we just go all rapperry and call him P-Zack? Yo!
ReplyDeletePZ out, man.
Names are powerful things.
ReplyDeletePerhaps they think that by using his full name, they are passively enabling people more inclined to take retributive action.
The other possibility is that they are tooting their own power horn by saying "Hah! We know his FULL NAME; you can't hide now, evil man!"
Granted -- getting "Paul Zachary" from "PZ" isn't terribly hard -- there are only so many likely combinations -- so it's not quite as powerful as if he was writing under a very secretive internet pseudonym. [Think of the difference in an article referring to "That XKCD Guy" and "Randall Munroe" -- which person seems like they have more power, comparatively?]
But is it pronounced PeeZee or PeeZed?
ReplyDeleteUsing full names or given names as a way of expressing contempt or disrespect is common. Commentators above mention the examples of James Randi being called Randall Zwinge and Barack Obama being called Barack Hussein Obama. In both those cases there may be other elements at play. In the case of Obama there's a clear attempt to link the name to his Islamic heritage. In the case of Randi there may be an element of anti-semitism (I don't know if Randi is Jewish but the last name does sound vaguely Jewish).
ReplyDeleteIt might be interesting therefore to see how universal this behavior is. Many critics of the Catholic Church or of specific popes do not use papal names but rather the given names of the popes. Thus one sees people refer to "Ratzinger" instead of "Benedict." This was less common with the previous pop, John Paul II. However, use of his given name Wojtyla was used by some critics, especially those extremist Catholics who refused to accept the validity of any pope past the Vatican II conference (although in their case they are making an explicit theological point).
This phenomenon seems to be more or less ubiquitous without regard to where on the theological or political spectra an individual lies. It's really a bit obnoxious; the minimal respect it takes to call someone what they prefer to be called isn't great and it doesn't cost one anything.
Using the full name is the traditional way to summon a demon...
ReplyDeleteWhen Richard Dawkins calls him "Pee-Zed" it sounds great. I hear it most as PeeZee on different podacsts. I'm in the Zed part of the world but we call him PeeZee in our house.
ReplyDeletePeople use the full name to express disgust. Lee Harvey Oswald, for example. Or John Wayne Gacy.
ReplyDeleteGee, and I thought his middle name was Hussein.
ReplyDeleteMore to the point perhaps, judging from the many "I Get E-Mail" posts PZ has made, is that the to "them" he is often "Mr. Myers".
ReplyDeleteThey do not think of him as "PZ" or "Paul", or "Prof. Myers", "Dr. Myers" or even "Paul Myers, Ph.D.".
Just poor old Mr. Myers.
It's a little-known fact that the Z isn't for Zachary at all but Zod. That's General Zod to you, sonny.
ReplyDelete"PZ" is just flat out more catchy and memorable than "Paul Zachary". "Paul Zachary" is also four whole syllables and most citizens of the blogosphere don't have the attention span for four syllables in the first place when two letters are perfectly acceptable.
ReplyDeleteI guess I call him PZ because that's what he prefers to be called, and it's not overly pretentious. If he asked that people address him as, say, something silly, like Father, Reverend, or Pope, then maybe I'd figure out something else to call him.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree with PZM regarding Evolution, I usually refere to him as "Dick Head."
ReplyDeleteI'm curious about Bill Osama Dembski, and Michael Yasser Behe. What about people who insist on their middle names?
ReplyDeleteI think even a select few in the YouTube atheist community seem to be trying to do the same thing to VenomFangX.
ReplyDeleteI disagree. PCS is the best argument for creationist stupidity we could have. Losing him would do real damage to the rational cause in the same way that the death of Hitler in 1944 would have hurt the allied cause!
When your opponents are led by delusional morons, go with it!
Poor widdle Eric is all upset about how he got batted around at PZ's site. It has been months, get over it.
ReplyDeleteWhat does it say about those of us who call him Dr. Squid?
ReplyDeleteI think the detractors are trying to create an appearance of professionalism or objectivity in their writing, and so they choose to avoid the "nickname."
ReplyDeleteIt make me think of how Amanda Marcotte of Pandagon gets call Miss Marcotte by any anti-feminist trolls trying to get under her skin. She's a feminist-- she would never call herself "Miss". For that matter, PZ's trolls often call him Mr. Meyers. Note the incorrect title AND the misspelling of his last name.
ReplyDeleteThey want to appear formal and respectful while at the same time being passive-aggressive and sneering. Because in wingnut world, ladies and gentlemen don't cuss or use direct insults. It would be 'lowering themselves'.
I say, they can go fuck themselves.
P Zach is something else entirely.
ReplyDeletePeople who read his blog call him "PZ" because he signs his blog posts "PZ Myers". Simple as that. I don't know if that's what he actually prefers in person.
ReplyDeleteIt is P Zed! The Brit wat!
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to bloggers who hate PZ, one should not overlook Vox Day.
ReplyDeleteI asked him if I could call him PZ when i met him and he said "What else would you call me?" He's funny too.
ReplyDeleteI'm laughing my ass off at the list of the "bloggers who hate him".
ReplyDeleteespecially: "Paul Zachary Myers - The Epitome of Liberal Intolerance"
raging nutcases don't count as serious bloggers.
I mean, really, his conclusion consists of little more than Pascal's wager.
rly??
ROFLMAO
Our younger son's name is Steven Nathaniel. To get his attention when he was little, I'd yell "Steven Nathaniel!" His brother started telling him, when Steve was doing something naughty, "Steven, that's a thaniel!"
ReplyDeleteTook me a while, too.
Zombie said... "But is it pronounced PeeZee or PeeZed?"
ReplyDeleteBoth are accepted by PZ. The Americans use PeeZee and the English/Australians use PeeZed. I'm not sure about everyone else. But as most conversation in the blog is written, it's mostly irrelevant.
Canadians use PeeZed. This one does, anyway. And PZ sounds friendlier. Like RJ. Or TJ. I mean, Paul Zachary brings it to four syllables. If someone is named Penelope, you can bet they shorten it to Penny among friends.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to bloggers who hate PZ, one should not overlook Vox Day.
ReplyDeleteIt's trivial to overlook Pox Daze. It hasn't said anything useful or true. Ever.
Right-wingers such as the Discovery Institute types like to think of themselves as stern, punitive parents, and what stern, punitive, right-wing parent doesn't call a child by his full name when they're angry at the child? I wonder if right-wingers realize how arrogant they seem imposing their dysfunctional parenthood on the rest of us.
ReplyDeleteRight-wingers are also often engaged in subterfuge and dishonesty, so they imagine that everyone else is, too. In their minds, P.Z. is trying to fool people by using only his initials instead of his actual names. They feel like they've exposed him somehow, kinda like the way right-wingers in the 60s and 70s would refuse to call Mohammad Ali by his adult name and instead refer to him aggressively as Cassius Clay.
I queried Pharyngula commenters about the mysterious "Third Scandal" - the best (only) suggestion was Prof. Myers's role in zapping the cross-promotional marketing agreement between the Answers in Genesis Creation Museum in Kentucky and the Cincinnati Zoo.
ReplyDeleteApparently the runaway laser-eyed giant robot octopus incident was successfully hushed up.
All this is ludicrous, and to cover up the fact that Paul Zachary Myers was found on the grassy knoll with a smoking keyboard, which was registered under an alias.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe Scandal 3.0 was Prof. Myers's notorious assault on the Repub Nat'l Convention in St Paul with his dreaded cyberpistol.
ReplyDeletePierce, scandal 3.0 was definitely Cincinatti Zoo. That pissed off a load of people. Golden. 2008 was a great year for Pharyngula.
ReplyDeletePerhaps they use his full name in the hopes that it will make it easier for followers to find out where he lives . . . perhaps to pay him a visit (to pray with/for him, or worse).
ReplyDeleteI heard that there is a custom among American moms to call their offspring by their full name when disciplining them. Maybe this tradition is reflected here.
ReplyDelete