COMMUNICATIONS

Dog lovers often give Anglophone names to their pets. I am thinking of “John,” “Leo,” and “Elisabeth.” When outside, they are often called by such names, as in “John, stop!” or “Beth, don’t you go over there!”

What do people from Britain and America make of this, I wonder? How is a John likely to feel? “John! No, no! Come here!” Thinking of the Johns I know who know Japanese, I can’t help but feel sorry for them.

When I was young, nobody gave their pets such names. “Pochi,” “Buchi,” “Tarō,” and other Japanese-style names were in vogue. At some point, they became “John” and “Beth.” This might work as a theme in Japanese popular culture, mightn’t it? Although this naming does not extend to cats. And I suppose “Pochi” might be a foreign import, too.

A friend of mine uses a disc-shaped automatic vacuum cleaner, a Roomba. She calls the machine “Catherine.” Apparently, when the Roomba starts moving on its own, she calls out, “Catherine, come here!” I can only hope that she has no visitors called Catherine.