Comments on: Trivial Pursuits

By: t-possum

t-possum — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 20:48:45 +0000

That was fun. Out of the seven I’ve read from the list I got three of em right (2,3,11). Which isn’t saying much. I plead lack of last name on Happy and Honey. I think Dingus is right regarding Pynchon character names. A bucket of cucumbers indeed. I always liked Pig Bodine. Still waiting for some punk band to pick up that one. No excuse for missing Twain!

By: Eric

Eric — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 03:06:09 +0000

What about Cimmanim, the hooker named for a misspelled spice in _Chuck Chonson_?

By: Aakaash

Aakaash — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 04:59:46 +0000

You know, we need an edition of this game that deals with comic book names. Especially during Stan Lee’s ‘Golden Age’, there were some amazing monikers out there, of which only a handful (”Flint Marko” comes to mind) actually stand the test of time and prevail as cool. People like Anirban would be able to offer up a compendium of these, but trust me, they’re HI-larious as well.

And I wonder, if a name is supposed to be “funny” because of what it implies, or because it’s been crafted as a possible pun, does it still count? I mean “Falstaff” is sort of a funny name, but then again that’s the point…

Completely off the topic, but I just saw Contact again and finally understood the connection between the name Arroway in that movie (and book) and Bowman from 2001: A Space Oddyssey. But now everything makes complete sense, and it only took me 10 years….

By: Kirsten

Kirsten — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 18:11:22 +0000

I only got #s 9 and 11 right, very sad.
But I’m sorry to say that you can’t include names like “DARL, JEWEL, CASH, ANSE, DEWEY DELL, and VARDAMAN BUNDREN” as silly names if those are NORMAL names for Mississippians. I can say this because I have cousins/relatives in MS with the names Mescal, Myrum, Al Sue (all female) and Dee (male.)

By: Jayashree

Jayashree — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 04:12:20 +0000

This was a hoot, though I did pretty poorly. Got Quentin, which is strange since I didn’t get much of the Sound and the Fury (including the suicide and the alleged incest!)
And I was thinking Saint Joan for the Dauphin.
My personal favorite funny character name is Lady Booby from Joseph Andrews. Can’t say it without cracking up :-)

By: Dingus

Dingus — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 00:48:10 +0000

Mr. Bones is a from a song in a dream of the brain of former Minneapolitan John Berryman, a brain dashed on the rox below the Washington Street Bridge and notably commemorated in two recent (and fabulous) indie rock songs - “Stuck Between Stations” by the Hold Steady and John Allyn Smith Sails by Okkervil River.

To be fair to “Dingusx,” a distant cousin, Darl, Jewel, and Cash are ALL BUNDRENS (Vardaman and Dewey Dell’s older brothers) … so I, er, he meant to insinuate that it was a family of silly names, silly to varying degrees no doubt. So maybe Darl Bundren is funnier than Darl.

By: Kris

Kris — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 18:14:30 +0000

This is very true, there IS a Dauphin in the Tres Musketeers, whom someone rescues from something . . . or something. I know this by using the powers of the Interwebs, as I have not actually read the Three Musket-carriers book. (Shame? I got it covered. I’ve also never read Moby Dick. Oh yeah!)

Also, Hamlet IS a funny name. Kinda sounds like Omelet. Mmmm. I kinda like omelets. (I just had an omelet.) OK! But it’s true, Quentin Compson is not as funny-sounding as Vardaman Bundren. Vardaman Bundren is just hilarious. But Darl, Jewel, Cash (maybe like Honey), aren’t that funny beyond the singular-moniker aspect. I think I’m on board with that now, D.

Finally, I really want to get the Mr. Bones question, but I have no idea. I keep thinking of Dylan’s “Ballad of a Thin Man” but that is Jones, not Bones, and is not really a poem, even though it has “Ballad” in the title.

By: Aakaash

Aakaash — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 08:23:12 +0000

Well, I did better than I thought I would, but misfired on some shoulda-got-that-one. I was just wondering though, does the (or maybe ‘a’) Dauphin not appear in The Three Musketeers? Just trying to cover my shame in missing Huck Finn Q, I guess…

By: Dingusx

Dingusx — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 02:40:46 +0000

Rousing. A rousing contest indeed. And that thing you do with the answers? Remarkable!

Now there are some fine choice here, but I can’t help but point out that picking out funny character names from Vonnegut and Pynchon is like picking out cucumbers from a bucket of cucumbers. Add to that list of easy pickins DICKENS (Martin Chuzzlewit, Fezziwig) and TOM ROBBINS (Bonanza Jellybean). Can I also add famous fun-tagonists like HUMBERT HUMBERT and IGNATIUS J. REILLY? How about SEYMOUR GLASS? Or the three whores in Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye” - Poland, China, and the Maginot Line?Or HAMLET … that’s a pretty stupid name if you stop and think about it … Hamlet.

Lastly, I’ll need to call into question your Faulkner choice, as Quentin Compson has to be one of the most normal names of Faulknerian characters that populate the ridiculously named fictional Mississippi county of YOKNAPATAWPHA, including DARL, JEWEL, CASH, ANSE, DEWEY DELL, and VARDAMAN BUNDREN.

For-Real-Lastly - You’ve inspired me with this interactive thing. See latest ghostofpaper post and contribute immediately. You’re all I have left.

By: Pulao

Pulao — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 14:36:00 +0000

I knew 5 out f 11, since Kris was mean and didn’t actually use any of the ones he asked me the other night. :P

The ones I got were 1, 2, 4, 9, 11.