Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Boomer the Dog-Man

Posted by samzenpus on from the chasing-your-fail dept.

BigSes writes "A judge will take a few days to decide upon approving the name change of a Pittsburgh area man. The man would like to change his name to 'Boomer the Dog' after the short lived television series. He is also a strong supporter of the anthropomorphic movement. Should a name change be such an issue?"

2 of 18 comments (clear)

  1. Boomer the Dog is a Brilliant Engineer by bernieS · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The brilliant phone phreak Joe Engressia (RIP) legally changed his name in NYC to Joybubbles (no last name, just Joybubbles.) So why can't Boomer Matthews change his name to Boomer the Dog? It's really important to him (no joke) as was Joe's strong desire to be Joybubbles. Who does this hurt? The judge who turned down Boomer's request own had a specious argument -- the name change would constitute a threat to public safety! "Consider the following example," Judge Folino wrote, "Petitioner witnesses a serious automobile accident and telephones for an emergency medical response. The dispatcher on the phone queries as to the caller's identity, and the caller responds, 'This is Boomer the Dog'. It is not a stretch to imagine the telephone dispatcher concluding that the call is a prank and refusing to send an emergency medical response." Of interest to Slashdot readers, Boomer is a brilliant radio engineer, and one of few people who is practiced in the dying art of the precision cutting and grinding of quartz crystals for use in electronic oscillators. He's also a great guy personally if you ever had the good fortune of knowing him. -bernieS

    1. Re:Boomer the Dog is a Brilliant Engineer by FlyMysticalDJ · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Another thing to note... If he gets into an accident and calls for help, couldn't he just give a fake name? Or even his old name. Hell, he could probably get help by pretending not to be able to speak.

      Taking this even further, what if someone names their child something along those lines? Will the court deny it or make the parents change it? What's the limit to this? What name is just barely too crazy to have as deemed by the court? I wonder if it's the "the" that gives them trouble. No one seems to like to have "the" in their name anymore unless they're French.