The Naming Of Crickets Is An Easy Matter

/ Ally Bean

[This is a random post if there ever was one.  H/T to T. S. Eliot for the inspiration for the title.]

When I think of crickets, I think of three things.

1.  The Big Bang Theory.  There’s a cricket in our basement.  The cricket in our basement is noisy.  At about 10:00 p.m. each evening our little cricket friend ramps up his chirping.  I think that he is a he– and that he is trying to attract any lady crickets who might be around.

Of course I could be wrong about our little cricket friend’s motive because I learned most of what I know about crickets from an episode of The Big Bang Theory.  That’s how I got edumacated on this subject.

• • •

2.  Jiminy Cricket.  Once I realized that our little cricket friend was living with us inside our house, I named him for Disney’s famous cartoon cricket, Jiminy Cricket.  Then I set out to find a video with Jiminy.

The video I found features Jiminy as host and is about “How To Have Fun Safely.”  I remember seeing this cartoon when I was a kid.  Jiminy wants me to live to be 83.  And to not be a fool.  And other assorted things that I may or may not have done throughout my lifetime.

Somehow, after viewing this video, I get the feeling that Jiminy would not be the sort of cricket who, now that I’m an adult, would meet me for a cocktail.  He seems a bit judgmental and uptight to me.  Just a little bit too know-it-all-y.

• • •

3.  Buddy Holly and the Crickets.  I remember once upon a time, in the early years of our marriage, we received a housewarming gift that was a good luck brass cricket for our hearth.  I felt that the cricket was a cute, whimsical gift with wonderful symbolism;  I majored in English Lit.  Zen-Den, an Econ/Business major, thought it was dumb.

I don’t remember who gave us that gift because it was a long time ago.  Although not as long ago as when there were “Rock and Roll Specialists” singing about a girl named Peggy Sue.  Which, now that I think about it, is the name that I’d give the cricket in the basement if I thought he was a she.

• • •

 

14 thoughts on “The Naming Of Crickets Is An Easy Matter”

  3. Awww! I love your happy cricket list! 🙂 When we first moved into our house we had a cricket under our stove for weeks, and we finally captured him (why do we both think they are hes?) and let him out to be free. Whenever we see (presumably another) cricket outside our door, we always think it’s good luck because we treated his relative so nicely years ago!

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    • Kristen, I’m sure that your graciousness toward one cricket entitles you to good luck from all crickets. We haven’t tried to find our little cricket friend. He’s free to have the basement all to himself. Although if I happened to see him, I’d gladly escort him to the door!

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  4. If I had a cricket to name, I’d name it Chester, after the cricket in “The Cricket in Times Square”, which is a lovely and wonderful children’s book about a trio of friends, including Chester, who can chirp classical music.

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    • J, I’d forgotten all about those books! They were great. I played the violin when I was a girl & I remember being enchanted by the possibility of playing in a cricket orchestra.

      Next boy cricket in the basement is going to be named Chester!

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