diacritical marks WAS Re: Word (Phrase?) of the Year (so far)?; Rambo'd (UNCLASSIFIED)

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Bill Mullins wrote:
>>
>> The Wikipedia entry for "The Usual Suspects uses the spelling Keyser
>> Soze with an umlaut over the o. Jonathan Lighter sent a message to the
>> list on June 2, 2011 about the "Keyser Soeze syndrome" that is
> somewhat
>> similar.  Dan Goncharoff sent a message about the "Keyser Soeze
>> syndrome" which concerns twist endings for films
>>
>
> From my high school German, I remember that an umlaut is the double-dot
> that goes over o (for the OE sound), the u (UE), and a (AE).  "Keyser
> Soze" (and the "o" in "Soze" had a double-dot) was a Turkish name, I
> believe.  Should it still be called an umlaut?  Is "umlaut" the general
> name for a double-dot mark over a vowel?  (or possibly consonants, as in
> "Spinal Tap", in which case the "n" had a double-dot?)

The (sometimes accurate) Wikipedia has an entry for Keyser Söze.

[Begin excerpt]
According to "Verbal" Kint, who points out that Keyser Söze's father
is believed to have been German, Söze was once a petty drug dealer who
began his criminal career in his native Turkey.
[End excerpt]

Is the last name supposed to be Turkish or German? Did Verbal Kint
construct enough of a backstory to specify this?

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