Etymology of "wacko"

[Laurence Horn]

>         The Marx Brothers names, in turn were influenced by Gus Mager's
>comic strips.  According to Toonopedia, "Starting in 1904, with Knocko
>the Monk, he [sc. Gus Mager] did regular features for Hearst about
>people caricatured as monkeys, usually named after a dominant trait.
>Braggo the Monk, Rhymo the Monk, Colfeeto the Monk, Tightwaddo the Monk
>and many more followed. The monks became quite popular, even sparking a
>minor national fad of using monk-like names to nickname real people. In
>fact, the Marx Brothers, Groucho, Harpo, Chico, Zeppo and Gummo, got
>their stage names from that source - Mager even had a Groucho the Monk."
>IIRC, Harpo Speaks is explicit about the derivation from Knocko the
>Monk.

Then there's Sluggo, from the Nancy strip but probably much earlier.

LH

>
>         I think this tells us, at a minimum, that as early as 1904
>people were deriving "-o" names.  It's hard to tell at this remove to
>what extent Gus Mager was a source for this, other than the explicit
>crediting for the Marx Brothers.
>
>
>John Baker
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
>Of Benjamin Zimmer
>Sent: Monday, January 30, 2006 4:49 PM
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>Subject: Re: Etymology of "wacko"
>
>On 1/30/06, Baker, John <JMB at stradley.com> wrote:
>>
>>          Should the -o ending be considered so limited?  Think of the
>>  Marx Brothers, with Harpo so-called because he played a harp, Chico
>>  liked the chicks (it was originally Chicko, but the k was quickly
>>  dropped), and so forth.  There's an account of their naming in Harpo's
>
>>  autobiography, Harpo Speaks; I don't have it available, but they
>>  certainly took on these names well before 1935.
>
>It's said that they got get their nicknames from comic Art Fisher during
>a backstage poker game in Galesburg, Illinois on May 15, 1914.
>
>http://www.whyaduck.com/info/grouchochron.htm
>http://www.chicagotribune.com/travel/destinations/midwest/chi-0511200197
>nov20,1,3054951.story
>
>
>--Ben Zimmer
>
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