BE DOPE NEWS (BDN) Exhibiting some of his trademark eccentric/French behavior that makes the press corps drool, Be, Inc. CEO Jean-Louis Gassée today mandated that all Be employees adopt hyphenated first names.

"In America, the name 'Jean-Louis' has always helped me by drawing attention to itself and being memorable," explained Gassée. "Plus I happen to think it's quite stylish."

At a company-wide meeting, employees were assigned their new name suffixes by picking them at random from a hat.

Employee reaction was mixed.

"I guess I got off relatively lucky," said Baron-Munchausen Arnold.

"I tried to argue that the accent mark in my first name made it unusual enough, but was unsuccessful," lamented Benoît-Fred Schillings.

There is no report as to whether or not Be employees will now start referring to each other using three-letter acronyms.

This Gun for Hire
Looking to put a bit of bite into your corporate copy? Hoping to build a community around your product? The author of Be Dope (and lots of other things) is now available on a full-time, part-time, per-project or per-hour basis. Contact me for details.

New Stories
New stories by the author of Be Dope can be found at Segfault.org

e Villa Celebration
Did you know all of Be Dope's e Villa stories are available via one handy page?

Be Dope Merchandise
These remaining tshirts are sure to be a collector's item someday. Buy now.