Lipton’s Journal/January 20, 1955/205

John Walsh is a homosexual who genuinely is happy with “masculine warmth”—simply, the companionship of men. Thus, latent homosexuals of the order of Slim and Glenn and Clem who are masculine hard-swearing adventurers on the surface and who masquerade behind the joy of “masculine company” are drawn to the genuine desire in John.

A note on this is the type of the phallic narcissist who so very often has a name or nickname which ends in “n” or “m” or one syllable with a vowel in the middle. Thus, the company of Slim, Glenn, and Clem who look up John—all of whom (except John) call me Norm. Other examples are Jim Jones. I wonder if the general “m” sound at the end of the name is not an echo of Male and Nail. (Echo: Spike and Prick).

It seems reasonable that people in coteries are drawn together by the sound of their names—that is, people tend to like people with certain kinds of names. If the coterie aspect of the personality is strong enough, the coterie is joined which most satisfies the type of personality. But what I wonder is whether such coteries are not worth studying to see if there is a common denominator or several to the kinds and styles of names. Carried to its ultimate the attraction that’s felt for the name becomes genuine love and we have The Snob.

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Note