Glad We Don't Use Metric

"Yardley" is the name of the college student who was murdered last week by her girlfriend-beating boyfriend, a pampered star athlete at the same college. My concern here is not the killing but the name. Young Americans no longer show much concern, ministers and rabbis tell us, about the Christian or Jewish background of the names for their new babies. The young parents are more concerned with trend, cutsie, or social prestige. Hence "Yardley." It won't be long, I'm sure, before this leads to Inchley or Footley (perhaps for babies of short parents) or Mileley (for babies of tall parents) (wait, hasn't "Mileley" already been introduced via singer Mileley Cyrus?). And, before long, we'll see Ounceley or Poundly (for small babies) or Tonley (for heavy ones). Then on to Wideley, Tallley, Highley, and so forth.