Etymology of "wacko"

[Baker, John]

        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.

        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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