Why are they all called Williams?

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Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 12:56 am

I am sure there is a perfectly good reason for this, but I just noticed in the surplus pile a letter from the widow of . All barristers and lottery agents I deal with are called Williams. I have the feeling that i could dial any random number in Nigeria, and ask for Mr. Williams, and receive an answer.

Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 3:48 am

Maybe it's like in Los Angeles, where they call each other "Holmes".

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

^^^Define "they". And I think you meant "Homes" or "Homie" as in "Home Boy".

I smell what you're stepping in, and I don't like it.

Edit: Looks like Holmes is also acceptable, sorry.

Quote:

Homie (less frequently, homey), is a contraction of the American slang word "homeboy" which became prevalent among some of the youth in the African American and Mexican American communities starting in the late 1960's and continuing up to the present, particularly in the hip hop subculture.

Another common contraction of the word homeboy is homes (sometimes "holmes").

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homie

Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 4:09 am

Homie is also commonly used amongst gang members Wink

Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 4:19 am

And, yo, homeslice (it's okay. I'm from NY), whats wrong with the name "Williams"? Some of "us" use the same name..... Laughing

Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 8:47 am

I've wondered why there are so many Williamses myself. I figured it's just a nice common-sounding name. Then again, I also used to laugh at how stupid scammers sounded when they used names like Goodluck, but I have since been enlightened.

I used to wonder why many of them use two first names so much, like "James Bradley" or "Stephen Jacob". There's the obvious advantage of being able to switch them around from scam to scam, but then I found out that many African people (the ones with Anglicized names) actually DO have names like that. There's a chance that Williams is just a popular surname in their reality-land.

I would rather doubt that lads are very creative in their stage-name selecting, as evidenced by their oh-so-logical explanations of why payment must be made by wire transfer or why they need a passport copy.

"What kind of stupid name is anyway?" - My humble self.

Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 9:45 am

Is it because they all have Welsh ancestry?

http://www.data-wales.co.uk/names.htm

Do I get my prize now?

Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 10:07 am

I thought it was Willaims Wink

Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 10:26 am

Da

Its because they can't spell Smith

Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 11:00 am

Apparently the ruling family of Bonny Province in Nigeria is Williams - so Prince Tony told me.

Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 9:34 pm

"They"

do seem to have quite a penchant for Williams as a surname. Whats I find really interesting is "their" Shocked

constant use of "Williams", "Martins", "Smith" etc. as first names! Especially as they often do this when impersonating US or British bankers or as the name of the deceased in their next of kin modalities. Freakin Moogs... I get the urge to all caps them THERE IS NO ONE IN ENGLAND NAMED WILLIAMS FRANK FFS and I would if it wasn't such an obvious give a away to potential victims Very Happy

Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 10:02 pm

^^^ So do I. The CAPS RAGE, I mean. It takes a lot of biting of my metaphorical tongue.

Another name-related annoyance is the way that if my character is called, say, Mr Robert Jones, then emails to him will inevitably begin: "Dear Mr Roberts". Mad

Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2007 11:45 pm

GeneralAbacha wrote:

Whats I find really interesting is "their" constant use of "Williams", "Martins", "Smith" etc. as first names!

Surnames follow given names in the West, but it's the other way round in Nigeria. Confusion about when to reverse the order of the names is common, and I think that is why lads come up with names like these. It's also behind the common tactic of choosing a reversable name (eg, Samuel Joseph v Joseph Samuel)

Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2007 12:18 am

Zen wrote:

Surnames follow given names in the West, but it's the other way round in Nigeria.

Ah, I didn't know that. This explains why one of my lads got quite upset when I asked him why his name changed from message to message. Of course, there are all the "Johnson"s out there as well as the "Williams"s.

I've just heard from as I write this (it's a mere $12.8 million - don't know if I can be bothered with that sort of chump change), but that can't be a surname/given name confusion.

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