Long time ago, 
when I was still in the Pacific, a palagi (i.e. non-Samoan or foreigner), used to greet me, “Hi, Fr. Damn!” Some time last week, I got an exciting phone call greeting me: “Hello, Fr. Doom!” In March, when I was in Nemi (Rome), a German speaking missionary whispered to me in confidence: “Don’t take offence, but your name doesn’t sound good, because in German sounds like “dumm,” which means “stupid.” In Brisbane, where we lived together, Dom Cremasco used to refer to both of us as: “Dumm & Dumm!” (The two fools).
So now wherever someone asks my name, I tell them slowly and patiently: “I am Dom, D-o-m, as in Dominic.” After that they keep silent and ask no more questions...
when I was still in the Pacific, a palagi (i.e. non-Samoan or foreigner), used to greet me, “Hi, Fr. Damn!” Some time last week, I got an exciting phone call greeting me: “Hello, Fr. Doom!” In March, when I was in Nemi (Rome), a German speaking missionary whispered to me in confidence: “Don’t take offence, but your name doesn’t sound good, because in German sounds like “dumm,” which means “stupid.” In Brisbane, where we lived together, Dom Cremasco used to refer to both of us as: “Dumm & Dumm!” (The two fools).So now wherever someone asks my name, I tell them slowly and patiently: “I am Dom, D-o-m, as in Dominic.” After that they keep silent and ask no more questions...
