Etymology of "wacko"

[Erik Hoover]

What about 19th C magicians with stage (or real) names ending in -o,
such as Bosco (d.1863)?

Erik Hoover

On Jan 30, 2006, at 6:20 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Etymology of "wacko"
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>
> One can have fun antedating -o (suffix2).  The famous elephant Jumbo
> dates to earlier than 1882 (when he was sold to Barnum)--but what is
> a jumb?  However, the name is said (by OED2) to possibly derive from
> mumbo jumbo, which dates to 1738.  Beats the Marx Bros. and Gus Mager?
>
> Joel
>
> At 1/30/2006 06:02 PM, you wrote:
>> And there are the two famous elephants, one real and one imagined:
>> Jumbo and Dumbo.
>>
>> -Wilson
>>
>>
>> On 1/30/06, Baker, John <JMB at stradley.com> wrote:
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>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Poster:       "Baker, John" <JMB at STRADLEY.COM>
>>> Subject:      Re: Etymology of "wacko"
>>>
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>> ---------
>>>
>>>         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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