“A person’s name is to that person, the sweetest, most important sound in any language.”
This famous quote is attributed to Dale Carnegie, but I never fully understood it until recently.
We’ve been watching a Netflix series called The Good Place on Netflix, and there is not one, but TWO characters, called JANET. One is ‘Good Janet’ and the other is ‘Bad Janet’ and I love them both.
It was the husbear who noticed. “You’re loving this, aren’t you?” he commented one night – and it’s true, I was practically bouncing on the spot with glee every time one of the Janets did something cool or funny (which is often).
I’m not sure what it’s like where you live, but Janet isn’t exactly a common name in my neck of the woods, although I did come across a Janette or two (totally not the same).
In fact I didn’t meet a single other Janet until I went to teacher’s college and suddenly there were four of us in my year, and one of them was a good friend so we were often together. It got a little confusing when somebody yelled out “Janet!” in the cafeteria and all four of us would look up!
Famous Janets
Even when it comes to famous Janets, there hasn’t really been much to inspire me:
- Janet Jackson (singer)
- Janet Evanovich (author)
- Janet Leigh (actress in Psycho)
I’ve heard that there has been a famous Janet or two in US politics: Janet Yellen and Janet Reno, but being an Aussie, they don’t mean anything to me.
Even book, movie and TV characters have been pretty ordinary.
- Remember the Rocky Horror Picture Show (fun fact: I’ve never watched it). If I had a dollar for every time somebody started singing “Dammit Janet … ” (that’s usually as far as they got), I’d be an extremely wealthy woman.
- There’s an ABC TV series called Janet King about a lawyer – I’ve never watched it.
- And when it comes to books, if you come across a Janet they are usually plain, boring and frumpy.
I even searched for a picture of “Janet” on my stock photo account, and got, this:
Janet is Cool!
And now … Janet is Cool!
I can’t tell you how excited I am about this!
In case you’ve never watched The Good Place, let me fill you in without giving away any of the plot lines: there’s a good place (heaven) and a bad place (hell). Each has their own version of Janet, a walking, talking, database in human form (though she is careful to point out that she is #notarobot #notaperson).
Played by D’Arcy Carden, the Janets provides a lot of the comedy value in the series. JANET IS COOL AT LAST!!! (yes I’m shouting!)
Every time Janet is on the screen, I can’t help but smile.
If you’d like to see more, here are some of the more memorable Janet quotes on Buzzfeed:
- 24 “The Good Place” Quotes From Janet That Will Always Be Funny
- 15 Of The Best Lines By Janet In “The Good Place” So Far
Have you watched The Good Place? Do you have a famous namesake that makes you proud to share a moniker?!
