Tuesday 3 February 2009

Pairs of people I always confuse with one another, just on the strength of their vaguely similar names.

  • Laura Linney - Lindsey Lohan
  • Fern Britton - Fearne Cotton
  • Sam Rockwell - Dean Stockwell
  • Mark Steel - Mark Thomas
  • David Thewlis - David Threlfall
  • Mick Hucknell - Michael Hutchence
  • Toby Litt - Tim Lott
  • Annie Lennox - Alice Cooper

Some of these I feel more justified in than others. The two Marks, for instance, are to all intents and purposes the same person - Annie and Alice, I accept, are not. In some cases, such as the Marks or Messrs Litt and Lott, I know there's two of them, but can never remember which wrote / appeared in what. In some cases, I think both people are one of them: I know, for instance, that there's a cosy middle aged TV presenter called Fern, but until I started writing this I'd never really established whether her surname was Britton or Cotton. Google now shows me that Fearne Cotton is a remarkably different kettle of fish. And in other cases, I have until recently thought there was one person, of whose name I was not certain, who had had the careers of both. Excusable, perhaps in the case of the two English actors of similar age called David Th-----; less so in the case of Messrs Hutchence and Hucknell. And positively actionable in the case of Mesdames Linney and Lohan.

14 comments:

Robert Hudson said...

Litt/Lott, Fern/Fearne, the Marks: completely. I have read one article by either Litt or Lott that I hated, and I have never again picked up a thing by either of them, which is really unfair (not least because there are many articles I have written which I hate). The pair I have always confused for no good reason: John Updike and Norman Mailer.

Marie said...

I remember my friend Dom, he of the Pelican Pie / bald ginger people, saying musingly once: "For some reason I always get Paul Merton mixed up with Paul Merson." He was genuinely surprised when I suggested why that might be.

Anonymous said...

Geoff Capes and JFK I always had a problem with. Also Henry Gibson and Henrik Ibsen. And Simon Mayo and Chairman Mao of course.
Oh and Charlton Heston and the Charleston.

Anonymous said...

I always get Norman Wisdom and Norman Collier confused. I have also given up trying to distinguish David Threlfall and Philip Martin Brown...

Anonymous said...

I had a three-way mix up of similar ilk yesterday, I managed to get Danny Boyle and Roddy Doyle mixed up, and then realised that both were irrelevant because I was actually trying to refer to Danny WALLACE.

Rebecca McMonies said...

Vince Vaughn and Johnny Vaughn - I refused to watch The Wedding Crashers for three years because I thought it was Johnny. I should have continued to refuse because it was utter Garbage!!

Corinna A. said...

Warren Zevon
Warren Buffett
Jimmy Buffett

I know it's a bit creepy to leave a comment on a years-old blog entry but I've found the only venue in which this brilliant connection of mine ever has even a chance of being relevant. Cheers.

Дени said...

Ingrid Bergman and Ingmar Bergman
I obviously know that they are two separate individuals, but I actually have to take a second when I'm about to pronounce either name so as to get the right one.

Jonathan N H said...

For donkey's years, I've done a mental flip between Roddy Doyle and Danny Boyle - maybe because I never knew what either of them looked like. (As of today, I have a mental image of both - so I'm kinda cured.) Had the thought - has anyone else made the same mix-up? Which led me to this great thread. I too confuse the two Fe(a)rn(e)s. Same reason - had no mental image for one of them. Thanks Corinna for making me grin.

Anonymous said...

Ian McEwan and Ewan MacGregor

Unknown said...

I realise that I'm several years late to the party, but I am forever getting mixed up between Danny Robbins (the comedian), Danny Wallace (comedian and presenter) and Danny Williams (ex British heavyweight boxing champion).
The overlap between fans of Messrs Wallace, Williams and Robbins is probably pretty small, but it includes me, and no doubt a few other people too. Does anyone else get this trio of great British Dannys confused?

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