Realody

Commentary: Michael Stipe of R.E.M. was born Michael Blue Stripe, because of his incredible facial birthmark, seen here. After achieving success with R.E.M., Stipe removed the "R" from his last name, and had laser surgery to correct his signature Blue Stripe. The "birthmark" later turned out to have been a tatoo his parents gave him when he was four months old, at which point they also chose his name and finally registered his existence with the government.

Day after day, people cry for an answer to the question, "What does REM stand for?" Some think it's truth. To others, it's justice. Still, others think it's the American Way. But no one is sure. In fact, Dudley Einstein, Einstein's grandson, recently postulated that perhaps the question of "What does REM stand for?" could be interpreted differently.

Perhaps the answer isn't an idea at all, but rather, a phrase.

Time Magazine published an article in July of 2004 arguing that REM should really be written as R.E.M., since Einstein's theory views the three letter combination as an acronym, a combination of the first letter of each of three words.

After the issue of Time that contained that magazine hit the public, thousands upon thousands of possible Three Letter Phrases were created. Some became popular, attributed to roadies who somehow stumbled onto the secret truth. Others stuck around because they were amusing. Still others, while not likely to have been correct, remained prevalent because of their message.

Here is a list of the most memorable and relevant suggestions for what R.E.M. stands for:

Rapid Eye Movement

Retroactively Evil Monkey

Rich Ethel Murray

Rag-doll Even at Midnight

Rapper Ethnic Maltese

Root of Evil Mayhem

Risky Ever More

Ransack Edna's Mansion

Rite End Movers

Rethinking Easter - Monday?

Rheumatoid Energy Milkshake

Reverse Engineering Minnesota

River Ends in Mississippi

Rocky Escaped Misfortune

Row Ever Moe

Rutwick Ellington Morley

Rest En Masse

Red End Murder

Risk of Elders Marauding

Roll Effect of Mountains

Ripping Effort Maximum

Rid Earth of Martians