This year’s winners have been announced in prizes recognizing advocates who support “First Amendment rights and rational [read licentious] sex and drug policies,” the Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Awards. That’s right, Hugh M. Hefner. Is there anyone who wouldn’t have known for whom the prize was named had the “M” (for “Marston”) not been included? Is it possible that in such an august context the founder of Playboy felt naked without his middle initial?
The unnecessary use of middle initials is one of those commonplace bits of puffery that makes us smile. It’s one thing if your name is James Smith: Given the superabundance of people sharing those first and last names, one might well be forgiven for adding an initial to one’s moniker to make it clear which of the many James Smiths you happen to be. But Hugh Hefner? Does he really need to be distinguished from Hugh Q. Hefner and Hugh H. Hefner? The man’s name is a brand—one well enough established that he’s known universally as just plain “Hef.”
Which suggests an alternative name for the prize. Instead of the ludicrous pomposity of the Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Awards, how about just the Heffies?
