Gag name

A gag name is a false name intended to be humorous through its similarity to (1) a real name and (2) a term or phrase that is funny, strange, or vulgar. The source of humor stems from the double meaning behind the phrase, although use of the name without prior knowledge of the joke could also be funny. Examples of the use of gag names occur in works of fiction in which there is a roll call, a listing of names, or a prank call.

Some names that would be considered gag names have been adopted as stage names by performers, often in the adult entertainment industry.

Examples

People

Occasionally, real people with a name that could be interpreted as a funny or vulgar phrase are subject to mockery or parody.[1] For example, Hu Jintao, former General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, whose surname is pronounced like "who", and former Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, whose surname is pronounced like "when", have occasionally been the topic of humor similar to the "Who's on First?" sketch. Former US Congressman from New Hampshire Dick Swett's name, when pronounced, sounds like common slang for male genital perspiration. Other names in politics which could be regarded as gag names include John Boehner, Harry Baals, Dick Armey, and Tiny Kox (although Boehner's surname is properly pronounced "bay-ner", it is often misunderstood as "boner"). There are also various people named Richard "Dick" Head.

Australian entrepreneur Dick Smith released a brand of matches named Dickheads, modeled after established brand Redheads.[2]

Roller derby teams and players frequently use gag names. Often, these are double entendres or suggestive. For example, "Rocky Mountain Rollergirls" includes players named "Ho J. Simpson", "May Q. Pay" ("make you pay"),[3] and "Amanda Jamitinya" ("a man to jam it in you").[4]

Another well-known example was the Canadian Dick Assman, who received some public notoriety in 1995 for his name over the course of four months. He died in 2016.

Newspapers

On April 13, 2003, James Scott of the Charleston, South Carolina, paper The Post and Courier reported that "Heywood Jablome" (a pun for "Hey, would you blow me?", "blow" being slang for fellatio) was escorted from the premises while counterprotesting Martha Burk's protest at the Masters Tournament.[5] He subsequently admitted to his being "duped" by the protester, who was in reality a morning disc jockey for a regional FM radio station.[6][7]

In 2014, Prior Lake High School students received a letter purportedly from the school district that described an upcoming "mandatory vagina inspection" for female students. The letter was signed "Barry McCockiner, Director, Department of Vaginal Corrections". The prank attracted worldwide attention and spawned copycat incidents at other schools around the country.[8][9]

Radio

In 2007, a BBC radio presenter was reprimanded after tricking a fellow disc jockey into reading out a fake request for a listener named Connie Lingus (cunnilingus) from Ivan R. Don (I've an hardon) for an upcoming "69th birthday".[10]

Television

In July 2013, KTVU in San Francisco aired fake names of the Asiana Airlines Flight 214 pilots "Sum Ting Wong" ("something wrong"), "Wi Tu Lo" ("we too low"), "Ho Lee Fuk" ("holy fuck") and "Bang Ding Ow" (onomatopœiæ possibly involved with a crash), provided by an NTSB intern who had mistaken this report from a member of the public for the real thing during its noon newscast. The station later apologized for the error.[11][12]

In January 2017, U.K. sports broadcaster Sky Sports inadvertently reported that Aberdeen had signed a Turkish footballer called "Yerdas Selzavon" (phonetically "your da (father) sells Avon", a reference to the direct-selling cosmetics company) after falling for a gag name on a fake Twitter account.[13]

In 2017, a taxi driver filmed protesting against changes to taxi licensing in Melbourne, Australia gave his name as "Tsim Booky" to the Channel 9 Today Show; tsimbouki (τσιμπούκι) refers to fellatio in modern Greek.[14]

Internet

In 2016, Seattle resident Rudy Pantoja Jr. received widespread attention when, after a woman accosted him with a camera as he was leaving a Seattle City Council meeting, he gave his name as "Hugh Mungus" (humongous).[15]

Examples in fiction

Film

The series of James Bond books and films often use double entendres for the names of Bond girls, such as "Honey Rider" from Dr. No, "Bibi Dahl" from For Your Eyes Only, "Holly Goodhead" from Moonraker, "Xenia Onatopp" from GoldenEye, "Chu Mei" (chew me) from The Man with the Golden Gun, "Plenty O'Toole" from Diamonds Are Forever and, most famously, "Pussy Galore" from Goldfinger. This is parodied in the Austin Powers series of spoofs on the spy genre; Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery features a villain named "Alotta Fagina", who must repeat her name several times because Austin misunderstands it. Another example being a character from the animated Danish film Terkel in Trouble named "Dick Balsac".

In Monty Python's Life of Brian, there is an extensive use of Dog Latin as a tool for creating gag names. The protagonist's biological father is believed to be called "Naughtius Maximus", while a friend of Pontius Pilate is named "Biggus Dickus" and his wife's name is "Incontinentia Buttocks". One of Pilate's guards also mentions "Sillius Soddus".

The widely known gag name "Mike Hunt", a homonym for "my cunt", appears in the 1982 teen comedy film, Porky's, where a waitress receives a phone call and asks, "Is Mike Hunt here? Has anyone seen Mike Hunt?" ("Everybody in town!" replies a customer familiar with the gag). The 2019 film Hobbs & Shaw had Mike Oxmaul (My cock's small) and Hugh Janus (huge anus).

Television

In the American animated sitcom The Simpsons, Bart Simpson frequently calls Moe's Tavern asking for nonexistent patrons with gag names, prompting bartender Moe Szyslak to call out for the person. These gag names include, "Mike Rotch" (my crotch), "Seymour Butz" (see more butts), "Oliver Klozoff" (all of her clothes off), "Amanda Hugginkiss" (a man to hug and kiss), "Ollie Tabooger" (I'll eat a booger), and "Homer Sexual" (homosexual). This running joke is based on the real-life Tube Bar prank calls. However, in the episode "Flaming Moe's", this gag backfired against Bart when he called for a person named "Hugh Jass" ("huge ass") when it was revealed that there actually was a patron at Moe's Tavern named Hugh Jass.

In the American animated television series South Park, the episode The Damned features Gerald Broflovski as "Skankhunt42" (skank cunt) trolling fictional Danish Olympic gold medalist and breast cancer survivor Freja Ollegard on live television by posting gag names such as "Dr. Juerdior Titsgo" (where'd your tits go?) and "Dr. Cootsier Boobsoff" (cuts your boobs off) on social media.

In the MTV series Beavis and Butthead, the episode "Prank Call" features a random man named "Harry Sachz" (Hairy Sacks). The duo harasses him with prank phone calls until he snaps and hunts them down, inadvertently invading their neighbor Stuart's house instead. In the episode "Customers Suck", Butthead announces the name, "Seymour Butz" (without offering context). In the episode "Be All You Can Be", the duo meet Army Recruiter Dick Leakey and enlist under the names "Major Woody" and "Private Parts", with the promise of having them stationed at Fort Dix, with Butthead asking if it's near Fort Nuts.

In the HBO series The Sopranos, Ralph Cifaretto makes a prank call to Paulie Gualtieri's mother, claiming to be "Detective Mike Hunt" with the Beaver Falls, PA Police Department.

On the CBS series How I Met Your Mother, Ted (a university professor) laughed at a student's name, "Cook Pu" ("Cook Poo"), assuming it was a joke name. The offended student dropped his class.

On the Tiny Toon Adventures pledge drive episode, Elmyra gets prank calls asking for "Bill Loney" (baloney), "Pepe Roni" (pepperoni) and "Ima Yutz" (I'm a yutz).

The British sitcom The IT Crowd included a character named "Peter File" (paedophile) in a 2007 episode titled "The Dinner Party".

The British satirist and writer Chris Morris makes use of silly names in the television programmes Brass Eye, The Day Today and his radio series On The Hour, such as "David Qunt" and "Wayne Carr" (a homophone for "wanker").

Robert De Niro has appeared in various episodes of Saturday Night Live as a homeland security officer advising the public to be on the lookout for suspects such as "Jenna Tailia" (genitalia), "M'Balz es-Hari" (my balls is hairy) and "Graabir Boubi" (grab her booby).

The mass media have featured gag names that sound like vulgar sexual terms for vaginas ("Mike Hunt"), penises ("Dick Head", "Dikshit"[16][17][18][19]), testicles ("Harry Balls"), and sexual intercourse (with homonyms for "fucking").

Gag names can also be applied to businesses, such as Howard Stern's use of the fictitious "Sofa King": in a hoax advertisement, the store was described as being "Sofa King great" (i.e. "so fucking great"). A January 18, 2000, FCC complaint about using the phrase was dismissed. A similar sketch was performed on Saturday Night Live in early 2007, portraying Sofa King as a new store opening after the success of Mattress King. An old joke (1950s) said that the Fuller Brush Company had merged with the Schick company to become the "Fuller Schick" company.

Other

Shenzhen's KK100 building used to be known as the Kingkey (a near homophone of "kinky") 100 and Kingkey Finance Tower.

The Frank Zappa album Sheik Yerbouti ("shake your booty"), emphasized the comedic aspect of his lyrics more than ever before.

Examples in other languages

The 2005 South Korean television series Hello My Teacher was criticised for its inclusion of a character with the gag name "Nam Sung-ki". "Sung-ki" is a common masculine name, but "Nam Sung-ki" is homophonous with the Korean language word for "penis".[20]

Israeli Hebrew

Ghil'ad Zuckermann suggests that at the end of the twentieth century there was a wave of jocular Israeli gag names, most of them based on rebracketing.[21] He provides the following gag names, all based on common names that, when rebracketed, create a jocular meaning:

  • Simkha Rif, a falafel salesperson, based on the rebracketing of sim kharíf, literally "put hot!" (masculine, singular), i.e. "add some pepper!", a sentence often heard in Israeli falafel shops.
  • Asaf Lots, a stinky person, based on the rebracketing of asá flots, meaning "[he] farted (masculine, singular)", "[he] made a fart".
  • Boaz Orly, a miserable person, based on the rebracketing of bo azór li, meaning "come, help me!".
  • ‘Alila Maslul, an Arab female model, based on the rebracketing of alí lamaslúl, meaning "go up the catwalk!" (feminine, singular).
  • Micky Pelli, a paratrooper whose parachute did not open, based on the rebracketing of mi kipél li, meaning "Who folded [it] for me?".
  • Mira Tsakh, a female detective, based on the rebracketing of mi ratsákh, meaning "Who murdered?", "Who committed the murder?".
  • Maya Feba, an ugly woman, based on the rebracketing of ma yafé ba, meaning "What is beautiful about her?".
  • Rut Tavor, a female army operator, based on the rebracketing of rut avór, meaning "Roger, Over".
  • Becky Tsur, a female stenographer, based on the rebracketing of bekitsúr, meaning "briefly, in a short manner".
  • Avi Ron, pilot, based on the rebracketing of avirón, meaning "airplane".
  • Beri Tsakala, an Ethiopian runner, based on the rebracketing of beritsá kalá, meaning "running lightly".
  • Eli Kopter, a helicopter pilot, based on the rebracketing of helikópter, "helicopter".
  • Amit Romem, a gay man, based on the rebracketing of hamitromém, literally "raising himself", referring to "homosexual man".
  • Basam Shaka, an Arab drug-addict, based on basám shaká, meaning "soaked in the drug" (masculine, singular).
  • Avihu Medina (the name of a famous Israeli singer, songwriter and composer), "Louis the Fifteenth", based on the rebracketing of avi hu mediná, meaning "My father is a state" (see Louis XIV of France’s L'état c'est moi, meaning "I am the state").

German
  • The name 'Kurt C. Hose' is pronounced 'kurze Hose'. That means something like a short trousers.
  • A soldier called 'Butte', who has the rank of a corporal (Hauptgefreiter) is abbreviated as HG. Butte, sounding similar to 'Hagebutte' which means rose hip.
gollark: They have maps.
gollark: But you can never write reusable code in it!
gollark: I'd rather not use a thing with serious security vulnerabilities they refused to patch.
gollark: Top bit is author.
gollark: ```"You mean that a program designed to let an unprivileged usermount/unmount/eject anything he wants has a security flaw because it allowshim to mount/unmount/eject anything he wants? I'm shocked."Unfortunately, sarcasm does not make you right. Yes, this is a critical security flaw, because anyone with calibre installed on their system now allows any user to gain root privileges by mounting on top of important directories. Just because your application allows this by design rather than by mistake doesn't make this less of a problem.```

See also

References
  1. "Harry Pitts? The worst baby names of all time". Archived from the original on 2010-12-05.
  2. Barkham, Patrick (26 February 2001). "Aussie icons under siege". guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
  3. "May Q Pay - Rocky Mountain Rollergirls". Rocky Mountain Rollergirls. Retrieved 2018-07-01.
  4. "Skaters & Staff: The Contenders". Rocky Mountain Rollergirls. Archived from the original on 2012-02-23. Retrieved 2012-02-15.
  5. "Protesters overshadowed by media, police". web.archive.org; charleston.net. Archived from the original on 2003-06-03. Retrieved 2010-03-14.
  6. "Embarrassing lesson: Duped reporter learns the hard way". charleston.net. Archived from the original on 2003-06-02. Retrieved 2010-03-14.
  7. "Heywood Jablome". snopes.com. Retrieved 2010-02-23.
  8. Rupar, Aaron. ""Mandatory Vagina Inspection" letter was a prank, Prior Lake School District says - City Pages". City Pages.
  9. "The Grossest Senior Prank Ever Involves 'Mandatory Vagina Inspections'". uproxx.com. 19 May 2014.
  10. "Mothers Day Dedication Fail". Radiofail.
  11. "News You Can Lose: KTVU Makes Racist Plane Crash Gaffe". Snopes. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
  12. "NTSB statement on erroneous confirmation of crew names". NTSB. 12 July 2013. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
  13. Online, Record Sport (2017-01-07). "Sky Sports fall for Aberdeen 'Yer Da Sells Avon' prank". dailyrecord. Retrieved 2017-01-09.
  14. https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/wtf/crude-cabbie-gives-news-station-a-fake-and-rude-name-during-protest/news-story/7cdb1449c29a12c8025facee46b16ed4
  15. "Hugh Mungus Accuser Zarna Joshi Kicked Out of Seattle City Hall After…". heatst.com. 3 November 2016. Archived from the original on 3 November 2016.
  16. "Dikshit giggles: New Henry drama". Stuff. 6 October 2010. Archived from the original on 22 February 2013. Retrieved 6 October 2010.
  17. "Kiwi TV host now shown ridiculing Sheila Dikshit". Indian Express. 6 October 2010. Retrieved 6 October 2010.
  18. Vass, Beck (15 January 2011). "Henry foes, fans evenly split". The New Zealand Herald.
  19. India condemns 'racist' remarks by New Zealand TV host, BBC News, 7 October 2010.
  20. "극중 교사 이름이 '남성기 조지아'?". Economy Today. 2005-04-11. Archived from the original on 2013-12-20. Retrieved 2013-12-20.
  21. See p. 146 in Zuckermann, Ghil'ad (2003), Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew. Palgrave Macmillan.
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