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Not really. Sure, the word is just "Santorum", but if you "click to enter" the site, there's a picture of Rick Santorum that says "Senator Rick Santorum" under

Not really. Sure, the word is just "Santorum", but if you "click to enter" the site, there's a picture of Rick Santorum that says "Senator Rick Santorum" under it, making it clear who the site's about. So yeah, people might have some bad associations when they meet a Santorum with no relation to the Senator, but they're not going to think the term was named after them. It's no different than the associations you'd have if you met someone with the surname Hitler. Some people have the same last name as terrible people. It happens, and no one's going to seriously hold that against the person beyond a few jokes.

slavat 16y ago
If the word comes to be associated with that name in the same way Johnson is associated with a particular body part or Sanchez, with an apocryphal sex act, all people with that last name will eventually suffer. Johnson and, to a lesser extent, Sanchez are popular enough to have other connotations than their usage as vulgar slang; Santorum is much less popular, and those bearing it will disproportionately suffer. As for "Hitler," people unfortunate enough to have that surname changed it after the war to avoid the very sort of thing I'm talking about. The same with Adolf; a once popular boy's name in Germany is now unheard of, all because of the one bad apple who bore it.
- MichaelSalib 16y ago
  I don't see any evidence at all indicating that the mainstream culture has adopted this meme in common speech as opposed to just making a bunch of links to a particular website. Do you really think there are a great many people in the world who, upon being introduced to Sarah Santorum, will immediately think about a mixture of feces and lube? Seriously, do you really believe that a great number of such people exist?
- konad 16y ago
  Not so unpopular in the UK http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/7897580/Twenty-babies-in-Britain-named-Adolf.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/7897...
- brazzy 16y ago
  Interesting factoid: the "Adi" in "Adidas" is actually a dimiuitive of Adolf, the founder's given name, which was unfit to be used as-is (probably in everyday usage as well) for the reason you cite.

slavat 16y ago

If the word comes to be associated with that name in the same way Johnson is associated with a particular body part or Sanchez, with an apocryphal sex act, all people with that last name will eventually suffer. Johnson and, to a lesser extent, Sanchez are popular enough to have other connotations than their usage as vulgar slang; Santorum is much less popular, and those bearing it will disproportionately suffer. As for "Hitler," people unfortunate enough to have that surname changed it after the war to avoid the very sort of thing I'm talking about. The same with Adolf; a once popular boy's name in Germany is now unheard of, all because of the one bad apple who bore it.

MichaelSalib 16y ago
I don't see any evidence at all indicating that the mainstream culture has adopted this meme in common speech as opposed to just making a bunch of links to a particular website. Do you really think there are a great many people in the world who, upon being introduced to Sarah Santorum, will immediately think about a mixture of feces and lube? Seriously, do you really believe that a great number of such people exist?
konad 16y ago
Not so unpopular in the UK http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/7897580/Twenty-babies-in-Britain-named-Adolf.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/7897...
brazzy 16y ago
Interesting factoid: the "Adi" in "Adidas" is actually a dimiuitive of Adolf, the founder's given name, which was unfit to be used as-is (probably in everyday usage as well) for the reason you cite.