The Name ‘Kylie’ (Middle Name ‘Ninja’)

Edit to add – Mr Mark Bellis suggests that ‘Kunoichi‘ is a more accurate term to use and I will respond to that in future.

I’m writing this as a nod of acknowledgement to the traffic. People are finding this blog searching for the names ‘Kylie Sturgess‘ or ‘Podblack‘. Quite a few of you in fact.

…Gah (*hides behind couch*)…

Hello.

People are most likely finding this site because of the Global Atheist Conference, coming up sooner than you might expect. Perhaps they’ve discovered the Skeptic Zone podcast, since the first episode of the year featured a panel I took part in. Or maybe it’s because of my Token Skeptic podcast (episode four out soon – ‘On Women and Paranormal Belief – Part One‘).

I think it’s mainly because there’s a few overseas people reading this who can’t believe that there’s someone actually outside of show business with a name like ‘Kylie‘. Isn’t that the name of a singer? One with a very nice bottom.

I mostly answer to either ‘K‘ or ‘Kiles‘. I’m also somewhat known as ‘Sturgo‘ (pron. sturge-oh) and you can listen to the story behind that in episode Episode #36 of the Skeptic Zone – Lecture on Weird Beliefs presented to the Perth Atheists.

Kiles is just a nickname. I don’t actually like my name.  At one school I went to, there were seven girls in my class with the name ‘Kylie‘. ‘Kyles‘ was the nickname that most of the other girls used when writing it. So, I used an ‘i’ instead.

What does the name mean? It’s a weapon.

A blunt killing instrument. A non-returning boomerang. Kind of ‘violent, deadly and rather pointless if you think of the notion that boomerang usually implies “will return”‘.

You might as well throw a brick at someone instead, really. Could save you the bother of polishing up a nice curvy stick. ‘Brick‘ Sturgess. ‘Lump of Limestone’ Sturgess. ‘Clubbed On Head With Concrete‘ Sturgess.

From a website called “Boomerangs“:

Non- returning boomerangs were used for hunting. Hunting boomerangs, called Kylies, are about three feet long and have a chord width of three to four inches across, being about one half inch thick and similar in shape to a banana. When thrown they fly straight and do not return to the thrower. A throw stick can fly great distances. One hundred to one hundred fifty-yard flights are not uncommon. Throwsticks have been found in many countries such as Egypt, Africa, Poland, Holland, United States and of course Australia, just to name a few.

How did the kylie come into existence? The best thinking is that prior to throwing sticks people used clubs to settle their differences. They’d use them like a battle-axe and even throw them at their opponent when they ran away. Perhaps it was discovered that a curved club flew further when thrown than a straight one did. They then realized that a thin club flew further than a thick one. At this point the basic concept of a throwing stick was established and used. In Australia it became engrained into the culture and was handed down from generation to generation.

How old are Kylies? The oldest known kylie found carbon dated back to 20,000 years old and was made from Mammoth tusk! By the way it was found in Poland. Hopi Indians in the Southwest United States used kylies, though they called them rabbit sticks.

I’m rather fond of rabbits…

‘Kylie‘ was rather a common female name during Australia in the 1970s – it became rather stereotypical, really. There was an episode of the popular British comedy called ‘Keeping Up Appearances’, where the main character Hyacinth declared that the name ‘sounded like a tropical disease‘. I don’t think anyone has ever let me forget that joke.

Two of the most popularly known “Kylies’” in the media since the 1980s have been Kylie Minogue (who is pro-medicine, and anti-SCAM, so that’s fine with me), and the abborent “Kylie Mole” character. My last name starts with an ’s’ – so it’s ‘Kiles S’. Therefore Kiless.

Most people online apparently see my name of ‘Kiless’ as a challenge to the notion of ‘Ki‘ or ‘Qi‘:

In traditional Chinese culture, qi (? / ?; Pinyin qì, Wade-Giles ch’i Jyutping hei; Japanese ki; Vietnamese khí; Korean gi; pronounced IPA: [t??i??] in Standard Mandarin) is an active principle forming part of any living thing.

Therefore, it could be read as against the notion of the ‘active principle’, which doesn’t correlate to any known biological function. I am ‘Ki – less’. Without Ki. Down with unsubstantiated notions of essence! Nice idea, but not really what it’s about.

However, it seemed to catch on in some cases and when some people at conferences meet me, they pronounce it a few different ways:
Key-less
Ky- isle
Ki-liese
K-isles-s
and variations, et al. Accents play a part too, I guess.

The most recent ‘famous Kylie‘ is Kylie Kwong, which if you think about it, is actually a fantastic branding/ marketing  quirk as well. She’s a Chinese-background, Australian born chef, who enthusiastically mixes Asian-style dishes with modern, straightforward Australian cooking techniques. Her restaurant in Sydney is popular and she has a handful of best-selling books out.

She isn’t actually a killing weapon either. Mind, I imagine throwing a wok at someone could possibly be quite satisfying.

What’s the point of all this?

Hello if you are new. This is my blog. Feel free to tell me how weirdly and completely random I can be.

Tagged as: All About Me, atheism, Global Atheist Conference, Kunoichi, Kylie, Kylie Kwong, Kylie Minogue, Kylie Mole, Links Elsewhere, news, nomenclature, podblack, podcast, Religion, skeptic zone, Token Skeptic