1. Examples in reality
    People  Newspapers  Radio  Television  Internet 

2. Examples in fiction
    Film  Television  Other 

3. Examples in other languages
    Korean  Israeli Hebrew 

4. See also

5. References

6. External links

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 in reality

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 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]

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).^[10][11]

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" (sounds 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.^[12][13]

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.^[14]

In 2017, a taxi driver filmed protesting against changes to taxi licensing in Melbourne, Australia was referred to as "Tsim Booky" on the Channel 9 Today Show; his statement was picked up by the Daily Mail.^[15] τσιμπούκι refers to fellatio in modern Greek.

In 2013, KTRK interviewed a college student claiming to be named "Abu Sharmouta". "Abu Sharmouta" is the Romanization "father of a whore" in Arabic.^[16]

Internet

In 2016, Seattle resident Rudy Pantoja Jr. became known on the internet as "Hugh Mungus" (humongous) after an incident involving a woman named Zarna Joshi, who accosted him with a camera and publicly harassed him by yelling and accusing him of sexual harassment after he said this gag name.^[17]

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; International Man of Mystery features a villain named "Alotta Fagina", who must repeat her name several times because Austin misunderstands it.

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".

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 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 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" (pedophile) 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"^{[18][19][20][21]}), 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.

Examples in other languages

Korean

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".^[22]

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.^[23] 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!" (masculine, 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").

See also

• List of places with unusual names
• List of chemical compounds with unusual names

References

External links

• The Stranger - News - City - They Like Mike (news article)
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060904171016/http://www.komotv.com/news/story.asp?ID=35102 KOMO News - Too Racy for Seattle TV? (news article)]
• BBC - 'Most unfortunate names' revealed (news article)
• Hooray for Heywood Snopes

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