Keyser-Soeze Phenomenon

[Laurence Horn]

At 6:39 PM -0400 6/2/11, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>In my day, it was recommended that compounds used attributively be
>hyphenated for quicker comprehension.
>
>Just where I read this escapes me, and I may be the only one who still does
>it. Or ever did it.
>

Well, yes.  As in "an ADS-list posting" vs. "a posting on the ADS
list".  I make that distinction myself, and so do my students and
editees when I have anything to say about it. But does this
attributive hyphenization ever apply to the first and last name of a
moniker used attributively?  "An Abraham-Lincoln moment"?  Seems
unlikely.  I (usually) suspect confusion or uncertainty about the
actual name Keyser Soeze (always rendered with an actual umlaut when
possible), If the syndrome were to be named for, say, Kevin Spacey, I
don't think it would be called "the Kevin-Spacey syndrome".  So this,
then, would be a case not of "Who is Keyser Soeze?" but "What is
Keyser(-)Soeze?"

LH

>On Thu, Jun 2, 2011 at 6:28 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>  > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>  -----------------------
>>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>  Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
>>  Subject:      Re: Keyser-Soeze Phenomenon
>>
>>
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>  "The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he
>>  didn't exist."
>>
>>  Why the hyphen in "Keyser-Soeze"? It is a first and last name. Roger Ebert
>>  supposedly used the term "Keyser Soeze syndrome" to refer to "...a lot of
>>  recent films [that] seem unsatisfied unless they can add final scenes that
>>  redefine the reality of everything that has gone before."
>>
>>  DanG
>>
>>  On Thu, Jun 2, 2011 at 5:09 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com
>>  >wrote:
>>
>>   > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>  > -----------------------
>>  > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>  > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>>  > Subject:      Keyser-Soeze Phenomenon
>>  >
>>  >
>>
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>  >
>>  > A former prosecutor on Tru TV describes tot-mom Casey Anthony as
>>  exhibiting
>>  > "what I call the Keyser-Soeze Phenomenon."
>>  >
>>  > KS is a central but off-screen character in _The Usual Suspects_ (1995).
>>  > IIRC, everybody describes him inconsistently.
>>  > What's Keyser really like? Who knows! All we know is that it's vitally
>>  > important.
>>  >
>>  > The allusion is to CA's seemingly preternatural ability to change her
>>  story
>>  > about what happened to her daughter at the drop of a hat and without a
>>  > blink, while incorporating any details that the detectives happened to
>>  > present her with.  The impression is that almost everything she says is a
>>  > lie, but she really really expects you to believe it.
>>  >
>>  > JL
>>  >
>>  > --
>>  > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
>>  truth."
>>  >
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>
>
>--
>"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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