LINGUIST List 4.993

Wed 24 Nov 1993

Misc: Ferdinand Feghoot, Ritual insults, Cake

Editor for this issue: <>

Directory

1. "Geoffrey S. Nathan<, In memoriam Ferdinand Feghoot
2. Mireia Trenchs, Ritual insults
3. "Geoffrey S. Nathan<, WZ Cake

In Memoriam Ferdinand Feghoot

Many thanks to those who wrote to tell me the name of the long stories
with plays on words as a punchline. Fewer thanks to those who deluged
me with punchlines. Fewest to those who got the punchlines WRONG|| ;-)

Quite a few people came up with the name 'feghoot', which was best
explained as follows:

 Galaxy magazine ran them every so often, attributing them to
 "Grendel Briarton" which is an anagram of the author's real name
 (which, unfortunately, escapes me). They ran upwards of 1/2 page
 in the Galaxy layout, and were titled (from memory) "Through
 Time and Space With Ferdinand Feghoot." (Guy Haas).

 There were several references to Isaac Asimov as well, and to his
 Science Fiction magazine.

Many disagreed with me, and said that the punchlines were not so bad.
Which reminds me of what may actually BE the original Shaggy Dog
story. Someone was looking for the shaggiest dog in the world. He
travelled the whole world over. He journeyed to the Himalayas
 ..hours of story omitted..! On being shown the dog, he said, 'That's
not so shaggy.'

Thanks to :
Ron Smyth , David Stampe, Debbie Berkley, Larry Horn,
jewett+pitt.edu, Karen Schaffer, Randy Tillery, Ian MacKay , Lynne
Hewitt, David Solnit, Julia E. Schult, Aaron Broadwell, Guy K. Haas,
George Gale, Michael Kac, Stephen P Spackman, Bruce Nevin, Erica
Grevemeyer, Henry Churchyard, David Powers, Patricia Donegan (with
apologies to those whom I may have forgotten)
 Geoffrey S. Nathan
 GA3662SIUCVMB.SIU.EDU
 Department of Linguistics
 Southern Illinois University
 Carbondale, IL, 62901 USA
 Phone: (618) 453-3421

Therese Tones just mentioned how in Brazilian Portuguese there is a
spread use of insults referring to other's mother. This also
happens in, at least, two other Romance languages: Spanish and
Catalan (spoken in Catalunya --Mediterranean coast of Spain, off-coast
Balearic islands, and South of France--). The insult might also refer
to the other's father:

Example in Catalan:

A: "Ets un imbecil!" (You are an idiot!)
B: "L'imbecil ho sera ton pare!" (The one who is an idiot is your father)

Months ago I asked the list about the Polish cake called WZ /vuze't/.
Several people wrote to speculate, and two provided what appears to be
the correct answer. When a new road connecting east and west Warsaw
was built, it was called Wschod-Zachod (`East-West'). It became a
trendy street, with trendy restaurants. One of the restaurants
invented a cake, and named it after the road. Sometimes it acquires a
diminutive (WUZETKA). One of my corresondents thoughtfully provided a
diagram, herewith appended:

 (blob of whipped cream)
 (chocolate sauce)
 (chocolate cake)
 (whipped cream and jam)
 (chocolate cake)
 ________plate__________

With thanks to Alexis Manaster Ramer, Bob Hvitfeldt, Brian F. White,
John E. Koontz, Jonathan Z. Ludwig.
 Geoffrey S. Nathan
 GA3662SIUCVMB.SIU.EDU
 Department of Linguistics
 Southern Illinois University
 Carbondale, IL, 62901 USA
 Phone: (618) 453-3421