Offensive names

Speaking of names that could be found either funny or offensive -- the distinction is in the mind of the reader -- I'll pass along a true story recounted by my role model, Fred C. Dobbs, the Bard of Beamsville.

For most of the 19th and 20th centuries, Toronto was part of the County of York. In those days it was a very WASP town, home to many Masonic lodges and huge Orange parades, and very proud of its British ancestry and connections. Like all proper English counties, it had a hunt club, where the landed gentry donned their pinks and rode to the hounds.

Naturally, it was called the York Hunt.

In the 1940s-50s, horse racing was considerably more popular in Ontario than it is now. Back then, going to the races was the only legal form of gambling known in the province.

Many of the owners had not just a desire to increase their wealth, but a sense of humour as well. One of them named a promising thoroughbred after the hunt club, thinking that it would be great fun to hear the track announcers choke on the name, especially since the faster you say it, the more it sounds like, errr...

Well, one announcer -- perhaps the legendary Darryl Wells, but I can't remember -- was a gentleman of the old school, and there was no way he was going to say "those words". He would refer to York Hunt as "the number 5 [or whatever] horse", "you know who" or, simply "that horse".

Today, of course, the Ontario Jockey Club wouldn't register the name in the first place. Just like the chap in Florida -- see previous post -- too many people have lost their sense of humour.