At the supermarket, I was standing on line behind a woman who was obviously of Latina heritage. As we waited, she was calling to her four children.
She yelled to one:
"Julio, come away from the candy aisle and get over here."
She yelled to another:
"Julio, bring me a gallon of milk."
She yelled to a third:
"Julio, pick up a newspaper and bring it to me."
She yelled to the fourth:
"Julio, stop running in the store. Slow down."
Turning to her, I said:
"Ma'am, can I ask you a question?"
"What is it?" she said.
"Are these all your children?"
"Yes, they are."
"I know it's none of my business, but did you really name all of them Julio?"
"Yes, I did." she replied.
"Forgive me," I said, "But that seems a little unusual, no? Why would you give them all the same name?"
"Well," she said, "It makes it easy to bring them together when I want them. For instance, at dinnertime I call out 'Julio!' and all of them come. It saves time."
"Okay," I replied, "But what do you do when you want to call one of them individually?"
'Oh, that's no problem," she said. "I just call him by his last name."