[ADS-L] suggestive na mes

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

Well, of course, as everybody knows, there is the Cunning Linguist.

And as Arnold knows, there are tons of drag queen names that fit this 
category--my current favorite is Honey Schute--and there are all those names in 
Restoration Comedy like Lady Wishfort--or are these puns too close to qualify for 
what the seeker seeks? 

In a message dated 6/10/06 2:06:45 PM, zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU writes:


> a correspondent writes, in connection with my writing on Language Log
> on substitutes for taboo vocabulary, mentioning the character
> Slartibartfast from the Hitchhiker's Guide, adding
> 
> > Adams wrote that he wanted a name
> > that sounded obscene but wasn't, so he started with Phartiphuckborlz
> > and tweaked it until he had something he could broadcast.
> 
> *someone* must (he says, for the hundredth time or so) have collected
> names that are invented to sound indecent without being so, and/or to
> trip you into making a speech error with unfortunate consequences.
> 
> i'm trying to recall the whole Farkle Family on Laugh-In: Fred and
> Fannie Farkle, and their children, including Flicker, the youngest
> Sparkle, and the twins Simon and Garr.  the whole thing was designed
> to induce unfortunate speech errors.
> 
> is there a term for such names?  anyone studied, or at least
> collected, them?
> 
> arnold, who hasn't
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> 
> 

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org