Weather.com Storm Names (Was RE: OT: Saturday 11:30 AM - 26 inches)

[Laurence Horn]

On Feb 11, 2013, at 11:22 AM, Baker, John wrote:

>        The storm names in several instances appear to be playing on associations of public domain names with others' intellectual property.  In addition to Gandolf and Nemo, consider the following:
>
> Draco: The first legislator of Athens in Ancient Greece.  But better known to modern Americans as the first name of Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter books.
>
> Khan: Mongolian conqueror and emperor of the Mongol empire.  Better known in some quarters as a Star Trek character.
>
> Rocky: A single mountain in the Rockies.  But, to many people, more suggestive of Rocky Balboa.
>
>        And I believe that there are other examples; this is by no means a complete list.

Iago (Othello's frenemy) > Iago (parrot from Disney's "Aladdin")
Yogi (Hindu sage) > Yogi (Berra) > Yogi (Bear)

for two.  I suspect you're right.  For example, Virgil (the Roman poet and Dante's guide) must have a pop culture avatar as well


LH
>
>
> John Baker
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Ben Zimmer
> Sent: Monday, February 11, 2013 10:47 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: OT: Saturday 11:30 AM - 26 inches
>
> On Sun, Feb 10, 2013 at 6:54 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>>
>> So what -- and when, and why -- were A--- through M---??  (The 2012
>> *hurricanes* were not Nemo and Orko, but Nadine and Oscar.  And the
>> list ended at Tony, so U--- and V--- are available if we were to
>> continue that line.)
>
> A moment's Googling reveals Weather.com's full lineup, along with
> glosses for the names:
>
> http://www.weather.com/news/winter-storm-names-20121001
>
> Some interesting choices, such as "Gandolf" (not "Gandalf") for "G" --
> glossed as "A character in a 1896 fantasy novel in a pseudo-medieval
> countryside." Turns out that's _The Well at the World's End_ by
> William Morris, one of Tolkien's inspirations. Perhaps they were
> avoiding having to deal with the Tolkien estate by going with the
> public-domain spelling.
>
> --bgz
>
> --
> Ben Zimmer
> http://benzimmer.com/
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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