"Kevin is not a name but a diagnosis" is a well known saying amongst school teachers here in Germany.
Kevinism
31–40 of 84 posts
Re: Kevinism
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
same. being named kevin is a hard life in germany, but sometimes i can't help but wonder if it actually benefited me in some way. it tought me a great lesson about people being spiteful without realising it, just because it's been established by the social environment that you live in. while some people are just consciously being dickheads, others might have this negative stigma associated with the name Kevin without…
> ... people being racist or homophobic without ever meeting people of the "other group". In my limited experience, this is the norm, not an exception.
What is even more entertaining is that when they do know people from the other group, they have a habit of treating them as shining exceptions to the rule, not questioning whether or not the rule is even valid.
Re: Kevinism
#33It also applies here in France, especially northern/eastern parts close to Germany. Well, not for Chantal, which is not a very exotic name here.
Also in Spain. Kevin, Joshua, etc automatically mark you as being a gypsy. No Chantal here though, but names like Jennifer or Yolanda are arguably used to that effect too. Very, very surprised though to see this as an international phenomenon.
I'd argue these names are more representative of cani/quillo culture than gypsies though. The phenomenon is pretty universal, it has to do with the formation of lumpenproletariat.
Re: Kevinism
#34The funny thing is that Kevin is not a very praised name in general either: https://www.reddit.com/r/StoriesAboutKevin/ “What is a Kevin? A Kevin is someone who consistently or greatly shows a complete lack of intelligence through incompetence of social and societal norms, or is purposefully antagonistic in their poor decision making. Remember the kid in your class who would constantly get in trouble for really dumb…
As a Brit, this is the Kevin that springs to mind
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_the_Teenager
Or perhaps an example is better
Re: Kevinism
#35From a UK perspective, Kevin is not a very popular name either, and has a bunch of negative associations. "Kev" has been slang for someone from a low socioeconomic background, possibly violent, often paired with "Sharon" or "Tracy" as a female equivalent. So as an aspirational western name I'm not sure it works! At least for the English...
Yep, back in the 1980s and 90s "kev" was indeed used as a somewhat derogatory term in the UK.
The stereotypical kev was supposed to be seen wearing white, fluffy socks and black shoes (terrible faux pas that) and driving a Ford Capri (badly).
At the time this greatly amused me as a child because my well to do Irish grandfather, uncle and cousin were all called Kevin and nothing at all like the stereotype. Not sure if the term "kev" existed as a mild insult in Ireland but they were all aware of us using it... :D
Re: Kevinism
#36Sounds a lot like Kyle in English speaking countries.
Perhaps apart from Scotland where it is a fairly common part of place names (e.g. Kyle of Lochalsh) - having said that, I don't think it's a very common first name here, perhaps because of that?
Re: Kevinism
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
---redacted as there is much better information in the response below--- It forever complicates your life as many official correspondences will ask if you've ever been known by a different name, and require you to provide documentation that the change was official and what your previous name was. It's only a small hassle, and not many people do it as a percentage, but the option is there.
Sorry, but you've mangled the methods a bit. > All of them are a little weird but one is free - you can effectively write to one of the courts in London to say you have been known by a different name for some time, so would like your official records updated to that new name - but this route is unconventional and somewhat archaic. This is an enrolled deed-poll. It's not free, it costs £36. It's not unconventional. It…
Quite right, I had that confused.
Interesting to read that there is no legal need to enrol, and that statutory declarations or just affidavits can be used instead. But the enrolled deed-poll is the one that's going to make your life easiest AFAICT.
Re: Kevinism
#38"Kevin is not a name but a diagnosis" is a well known saying amongst school teachers here in Germany.
»Kevin ist kein Name, sondern eine Diagnose!«
Who says Germans don't have a sense of humour?
Re: Kevinism
#39My name is Kevin. I'm 27 and I'm from (west) germany. Most people I get to know will bring the topic up. I got a master's degree in physics and I have heard people say something like 'your name doesn't fit your profile at all' more times than I can count. I've seen girls in my sphere discard guys on Tinder partly due to being named Kevin. People do joke about the name and that's ok. It's not terrible but it isn't gre…
same. being named kevin is a hard life in germany, but sometimes i can't help but wonder if it actually benefited me in some way. it tought me a great lesson about people being spiteful without realising it, just because it's been established by the social environment that you live in. while some people are just consciously being dickheads, others might have this negative stigma associated with the name Kevin without…
Have you heard the Johnny Cash song "Boy named Sue"?
Re: Kevinism
#40The funny thing is that Kevin is not a very praised name in general either: https://www.reddit.com/r/StoriesAboutKevin/ “What is a Kevin? A Kevin is someone who consistently or greatly shows a complete lack of intelligence through incompetence of social and societal norms, or is purposefully antagonistic in their poor decision making. Remember the kid in your class who would constantly get in trouble for really dumb…
As a Brit, this is the Kevin that springs to mind https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_the_Teenager Or perhaps an example is better https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dLuEY6jN6gY
Even that meaning of "Kevin" has changed.
Harry Enfield's Kevin the Teenager has very middle class parents (for those not from the UK we regard "middle class" as describing a much wider social group than say in the USA where it might be based on income. It's basically not working class and not a member of the aristocracy. Could be a QC, a CEO or school teacher.)
The earlier meaning was more pejorative and something closer to a being a "chav". Like chavs in the early 00s were supposed to wear fake Burberry check products, kevs were supposed to wear white socks and black shoes. I have no idea why.