Hello all! I have returned from a vacation back to the keyboard and ready to enjoy all the funny names I can rest my eyes upon (not that I took my eyes off funny names on my trip). Let’s get right to it!
We got a special treat right off the bat here, with our Baseball guru Rob having sent in this lovely link to awesome Baseball nicknames from the 1940s. The list includes everyone’s favorite, Twinkletoes Selkirk, among some other doozies. My personal favorite may well be Blimp Hayes, who was presumably so named because he was thought to the be the future of transportation.
Google suggests these are Twinkletoes, and why not.
Not to forget Rabbit McNair, Dizzy Trout, Stormy Weather Weatherly, Bob Suitcase Seeds, and Cookie Lavagetto, among the dozens of amazing ball-smashers on that list. Thanks Rob!
Meanwhile, our man Dave has been reading his gossip rags at the barbershop again, and with that brings us the news that Joey Chestnutt and Neslie Ricasa, who were engaged to be married, are now no longer engaged. Joey is of course the world’s #2 ranked hot dog eater, which brings to mind the question – who is ranking hot dog eaters out there? If you know this clearly passionate hot dog eating watcher, please write in. We’re very curious.
Meanwhile in personal experience land, we recently got to ride on the Councilman Hyman Pill memorial escalator coming out of public transport in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and it was a very pleasant (if vaguely urine smelling) experience. Mostly pleasant because that’s quite an amazing name, and because a subway escalator is an even more amazing thing to have memorialized in your honor.
Pleasingly, I found this LIFE Magazine snippet showing Mr. Pill at work from 1948. Fantastic stuff.
I have to try this egg trick to enliven any dull proceedings. (click to make the image larger)
And we wrap up with a tale of good coffee from Dave, our brave Michigan local news observer.
He tells us of Dianne Hoffmeyer, who did something awesome – buying Tim Hortons orders for 2 people who insulted her weight while standing in line at the coffee shop.
Happy weekend, everyone! Enjoy your Timbits out there!
No mention of Three Finger Mordecaui Brown or Ralph “Hack” Wilson?
The amazing thing is all the names in that link came from a 1940 baseball series, so Three Finger Brown and Hack Wilson weren’t even around. Baseball is rife with amazing amazing nicknames, and even though Rob isn’t around much these days, we try to write about baseball when we can!
I’m still trying to process Mr. Pill’s name. His parents just must not have known. It just must be ignorance. Of course, they had no idea how his name would in future decades become intertwined with the region re: “The Pill” but still. Plus, did his friends say, “Hi, man” in the halls? Or “Hi, Hyman”? It’s too much.
Tragic about Joey and Neslie. One day she will sing the old Concrete Blonde song, “Joey, I’m not angry anymooooore.” You know, I bet if she’d spelled it Nestle, he would have stayed with her. Everyone eats Nestle.
Haha, Arto told me to look at the draft last night to learn about the egg-concealing trick, and thank Heavens I did, because mister Art-man had misspelled Hyman in the draft 🙂
I need to listen to this Concrete Blonde song! Sounds awesome. I really need to listen to more Concrete Blonde in general. I’ve been on a Sinatra kick lately…. good stuff, and “My Way” was my anthem that helped me get through microbiology.
Well, that’s the only one of their songs I know. But Frank, I’ve got a couple dozen of his songs on rotation. You can’t be a proper American without singing that. Regrets, I’ve had a few…
…but then again, too few to mention…
Or at least that’s what I’ll say, in order to avoid having to tell people all of my regrets.
One of those funny things….i had finished the draft, googled Pill once more for images, and Google tells me :”do you mean Hymen Pill?” So i think, “I guess…” and Hymen Pill returns many results. So I change it. And then Dave re-changes it to save the day.
Haha, that might be the first time I did something better than Google did!
If the guy’s name is Rabbit McNair, was he bald? Or just an early supporter of Nair for the “short shorts” generation?
That jingle is so catchy, that even with my sound off during lecture, seeing that video name has gotten that song stuck in my head!
It’s quite a catchy tune all right. I hope it’s a good soundtrack for your lecture. 🙂
Every picture of Rabbit I can find depicts him with a cap on, so I’m going with yes on the bald question.
Ah ha, the old hat trick is it? Then it must be true. 🙂
i am so into twinkletoes and would love a pair of those sparkly shoes.
I believe it! Everybody dance now?
Can you guess which C+C Music Factory song I have stuck in my head now? (P.S. There’s really only one answer to that question ever…)
Of course.
I think it’s too bad it didn’t work out with he and Neslie. I guess they just didn’t relish the prospect of married life. Either that or one of them musta ‘eard some rumors about the other one. Or may Joey was too frank for ‘er. But Neslie may come to regret this–it’s hard to find a manly dude these days, and Joey is no weenie.
Hot dog! I’m glad you mustered the strength to come up with all those puns. Now I have to catch up to you, but I have a feeling I won’t be able to do so, because some my puns are the wurst. If I surpass your mark with only bad puns, does that mean I am a wiener or loser?
I think I’m coming across as a dilletante. In our pun-ishing fisticuffs, does this mean Diddy wins by KO? Sure.
Hardly! You got this round, dawg. My conditments!
That egg trick makes me laugh every time! Oh that wisecracking jokester, Councilman Sullivan!