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<div>At 8:17 AM -0800 2/14/01, James Smith wrote:</div>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>--- "Douglas G. Wilson"
<douglas@NB.NET> wrote:<br>
> >Possibly derived from 'gonzo', Italian for: NOODLE;<br>
> >LOOPY; DUPE; NINNY; NODDY; NINCOMPOOP; MUG.<br>
><br>
> ...But I think "ginzo" is older than
"gonzo", in<br>
> English?...<br>
<br>
> -- Doug Wilson<br>
<br>
They both could have come from the same Italian word,<br>
'gonzo' entering English directly and ginzo'<br>
transformed by English speakers who misunderstood the<br>
Italian, or deliberately mispronounced it to increase<br>
the effect. Did 'ginzo' originate as a self-reference<br>
among Italian-Americans, or did it originate with<br>
non-Italian speaking Americans to designate 'those</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Eye-talian people'?</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote>
<div>Nobody's yet mentioned "gonzo journalism/journalist"
on this thread. I'd always associated it with Hunter S.
Thompson (_Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas_, etc., and model for a
character in the Doonesbury strip), and according to the RHHDAS he
actually coined the label himself in<i> Rolling Stone</i> in 1971 'to
characterize his own style of subjective, creative, hyperbolic,
strongly satirical journalism'. The RHHDAS, but presumably not
Thompson himself, suggests that the term was 'perhaps ultimately
suggested by It. "gonzo", 'simpleton'.. Tamony (AS 58
(1973): 73-75 is referenced. From the Atlantic (July 1973) we
have the eloquent observation that "Gonzo Journalism supplements
the techniques of the novelist with the techniques of the
lunatic".</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>larry</div>
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