In a message dated 8/14/2003 5:19:48 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
killshot@... writes:

<< I am very sorry for the confusion and the consequent debate but Kacze
(Kachka) was my grandmother's family name, not given name.

==That certainly paints a different picture. Your gm
may have been related to Hebrew writer and 1967
Nobel Laureate in Literature (1888 - 1980) Shmuel
Yosef AGNON, whose original family name was CZACZKES.

==Even if the name meant duck, which might possibly
not be an ofensivee name in a particular culture
(cf "chick"), as a surname it would certainly be no
more "offensive" than relatively common surnames
like RINDSKOPF (cattle head) or the rarer KLEINMAUS
(little mouse, but perhaps it was Mauskopf) of the
current US prosecutor for the New York area.

==I wrote the above partly to justify the following
request:

==The contoverssy about the meaning and origin of the
Kacze (Kachka) name started many weeks ago and got
quite heated. It caused rifts in the online
relationship of quite a Jewishgenners. It took up
much energy we might have devoted to more productive
gen efforts. Please, if you post a query about your
family:

1. Make absolutely sure you have your facts straight
2. Check up regularly on ALL the responses to your query.
People are doing you a favor when they respond to your query.
They deserve to know immediately if you have new
information or if there has been a mistake in the query.

==We could have saved ourselves many angry words
and feelings had these simple rules been followed.

Michael Bernet, New York

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