Word: cooperperson
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...good or ill. In the adult world, name-calling is considered the dirtiest form of fight. Elaborate libel laws rest on the premise that a name can do real damage. Individuals clearly expect a variety of benefits when they take on new names. For Ellen Cooperman, becoming Ellen Cooperperson was ostensibly indispensable to her liberation. When he planned to run for Governor, Maryland Attorney General Francis Boucher Burch, long called "Bill," legally adopted the nickname with its suggestion of a common touch-but reverted to Francis Boucher after he withdrew from the race. Out of a simple wish to escape...
Three years ago Cooperman decided that she could no longer tolerate the word man in her surname because of its sexist connotations. So she began using the name Cooperperson in her business and private life, explaining that it served as "a consciousness raiser." Soon friends were calling Ellen, who is divorced, and her child Brian (a nine-year-old male person) the Cooperpeople. But when her bank and credit-card companies steadfastly refused to list her as Cooperperson because it was not her legal name, she went to court to legitimize her name change. Her petition stated that Cooperperson "more...
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