From: adolphso@mizar.usc.edu (adolphson)
Newsgroups: soc.motss
Subject: Re: British Pronounciation
Date: 21 Jul 1992 13:21:20 -0700
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: mizar.usc.edu

In article <1992Jul21.051321.10849@macc.wisc.edu> 
anderson@macc.wisc.edu (Jess Anderson) writes:
> In article <l6n225INNm7h@mizar.usc.edu>
> adolphso@mizar.usc.edu (adolphson) writes:
>
> How *do* we get into this stuff?  It must be silly season!

I'm *always* on the lookout for silly names. 

> >In article <1992Jul20.232129.12205@macc.wisc.edu> 
> >anderson@macc.wisc.edu (Jess Anderson) writes:
>
> >>	Phoebe B. Peabody-Beebe
>
> >What a hoot!  It's even better than Gisele Werbiczek-Piffel (a
> >German actress) and Fairfax Proudfoot-Walkup (a historian of 
> >costume).  

Gisele Werbiczek-Piffel is a real scream.  But then I think
Gisele alone, when pronounced in the German manner, is funny.
Fairfax Proudfoot-Walkup was one of the world's leading experts
in the history of costume, and she taught at the Pasadena Playhouse
in its Golden Age (the '40s).

> >	Helmut Berger-Tuna
> >	Gianni Jaja
> >	Gianni Chiaia
> >	Venceslava Hruba-Freiburger
> >	Bizerka Cvejic [*what* possessed her parents to saddle
> >			her with the name Bizerka?]
> >	Dragica Martines
> >	Bodzena Ruk-Focic
>
> You made that up!  Who *are* those folks?

I most certainly did *not* make that up.  These are all opera singers.
Helmut Berger-Tuna is a young (for an opera singer) Austrian bass; 
Gianni Jaia (pronounced "Johnny Ya-ya") is a provincial Italian tenor; 
Gianni Chiaia (pronounced "Johnny Key-a-ya") is another provincial
Italian; Venceslava Hruba-Freiburger is a Czech or Slovak (don't know 
which) singer whose name I came across a few months ago on a Supraphon 
CD of something; Bizerka Cvejic (there's a cicek on the second "c" -- 
her last name is pronounced "Tsvay-itch") is a mezzo who's had something 
of an international career, having sung at the Met and Covent Garden;
Dragica Martines was hot stuff at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in
Mexico City in the '50s and '60s; and Bozena Ruk-Focic (with a cicek
on the "z" and second "c" -- her name is pronounced "Bozhena Ruk-
Fo-tsitch) is sort of a Croatian version of Leyla Gencer, meaning
that she sings in second casts at first-rate houses.

> Of course there really was a harpsichordist named Edith
> Picht-Axenfeld, whom we parodied in college by calling her
> Aphrodisia Emmerthaler-Mandelplaettchen.

This reminds me of a paper a friend of mine (the same one who
always calls that Hungarian soprano "Eva Buttfuck Barfly") wrote
in 9th grade about the Empress Tsu-Hsi.  He did absolutely no
research for the paper and read nothing about either the empress 
or China -- he made everything up.  He wrote about Tsu-Hsi because
he thought her name was so amusing, and because he couldn't resist 
punning on it: the title of his paper was "If You Knew Tsu-Hsi".

> Next, I'm sure, we'll have camp names.  My favorite:
> Ophelia Meate.

Yes, I've always loved Ophelia Meate.

> You know, somebody (and Arne, you're probably the one to do
> it) really should write a book about why things like this
> crack us up.  For the most part they're all incredibly dumb
> things, but I guffaw every time I think of Ophelia Meate and
> a dozen other names like Aphrodisia E-M above.  It's a very
> peculiar psychology that goes for verbal pratfalls.

Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I don't know.... 

Arne