Wails and Murmurs: Eating Couscous at the Chi-Chi's in Walla-Walla
(Bill Gurstelle is guest blogging here on Boing Boing. He is the author of several books including Backyard Ballistics, and the recently published Absinthe and Flamethrowers. Twitter: @wmgurst)
Last week, in Walla Walla, Ben and I walked into a Chi-Chi's where he ordered couscous. I Love Lucy was on (I think Ricky Ricardo is a hoot.) Anyway, who do you think walks in but Lando Calrissian himself, Billy Dee Williams! He sat down at Boutrous Boutrous Galli's table. They got into a literary debate, something about whether Ford Madox Ford's characters were as richly crafted as those of William Carlos Williams. Then they argued about who was a more interesting character, Humbert Humbert in Lolita or (Major) Major Major in Catch 22.
Finished, they turned the channel to ESPN classic sports, just in time to watch Cubs slugger Billy Williams interview ski jumper Eddie (the Eagle) Edwards.
By the way, Sirhan Sirhan is still in jail, isn't he?
P.S.: There must be some females who are tautonymically named, but I can't think of any.
Tautonym -A word or name composed of two identical parts; e.g. pawpaw, yo-yo, tutu, bye-bye.For a long time, I had planned to name my first child, irrespective of gender, Gurstelle Gurstelle. But I knew he would never be able to type his name in MS Word without the spell checker forever putting a squiggly red line under the poor kid's name. I worried that the constant digital reproof could lead to self esteem problems. So we named him Ben instead.
Last week, in Walla Walla, Ben and I walked into a Chi-Chi's where he ordered couscous. I Love Lucy was on (I think Ricky Ricardo is a hoot.) Anyway, who do you think walks in but Lando Calrissian himself, Billy Dee Williams! He sat down at Boutrous Boutrous Galli's table. They got into a literary debate, something about whether Ford Madox Ford's characters were as richly crafted as those of William Carlos Williams. Then they argued about who was a more interesting character, Humbert Humbert in Lolita or (Major) Major Major in Catch 22.
Finished, they turned the channel to ESPN classic sports, just in time to watch Cubs slugger Billy Williams interview ski jumper Eddie (the Eagle) Edwards.
By the way, Sirhan Sirhan is still in jail, isn't he?
P.S.: There must be some females who are tautonymically named, but I can't think of any.
the latest
latest episodes
Marilyn Monroe
Zsa Zsa Gabor?
I'm pretty sure Billy Dee Williams used to date Zsa Zsa Gabor.
I don't know how old your boy is, but you MUST read Double Trouble in Walla Walla by Andrew Clements. It is an ode to the Tautonym!
Little Lulu?
There are a buncha Lulus waiting for their tautonymic 15 minutes of fame
Gigi Sohn.
Bibi and Didi are also relatively common female names.
Would Edward Woodward count?
The writers for that show "Pushing Daisies" seemed to have a thing for Tautonyms. I never knew the proper term for that kind of word until now.
I married a Louise Lewis, which is pretty much what we're talking about, yes? And another Lady Tautonymn would be Lang Lang the classical pianist....
"Dee Dee Myers (born Margaret Jane Myers on September 1, 1961 in Quonset Point, Rhode Island) served as White House Press Secretary for the first two years of the Clinton administration"
And there's always Baba Wawa. At wahge.
Husband wants to name our kid Ervine Irving Erwin. It's not going to happen.
The Los Angeles Angels!
On Pitcairn Island, everybody speaks English as their primary language, but they also know a unique dialect which, like their culture, is a blend of Anglo and Polynesian influences. It has lots of those tautonyms, which are apparently common in polynesian tounges, hula-hula, maki-maki, bora-bora, etc-etc.
Doh! Lang Lang is a guy, of course. I always get that mixed up and also want to call him/her Ling Ling. Sigh....
Lang Lang is male, but there are surely many female examples in Asian countries.
From the Dept of Redundancy Dept...
The girl next door was named DeeDee.
My favorite was always the species name for the Western Lowland Gorillia: gorilla gorilla gorilla
I think you actually mean reduplicate, not tautonym:
(linguistics) To repeat a word or section of a word in order to form a new word or phrase, possibly with modification of one of the repetitions.
which covers the vowel-shifts and consonant shifts too (e.g. Lola and Oingo-Boingo)...
Lisa Lisa (and Cult Jam)?
And here I thought punning was the lowest form of humor.
I appear to be incorrect.
-abs did admittedly chuckle, but come on
William Carlos Williams was a poet. Just sayin.
@ Escowles #12: That's just what the biologist who formally named the species was yelling while the 800-pound tautonym in question was chasing him through the jungle.
Just think of all the Ibu Ibu in Indonesia eating their cumi cumi. Seriously, look at Bahasa Indonesia or Bahasa Malaysia for all kinds of examples of Tautonyms and reduplications
Lake Titicaca? :D
Jenny Jenny, who can I turn to?
Perhaps Duran Duran played on the jukebox? Or perphaps Billy and Boutrous discussed the source of the band name, Dr. Durand Durand, a fictional doctor in 1968's Barbarella. Just a thought.
No one was listening to Duran Duran?
Lang Lang is a dude, FYI. Also it's pronounced "long long" or "lahng" twice for those who've not heard of him.
Not Marilyn Monroe. So sorry.
I actually knew a woman named Annabell Annebel
Would it count at all if they were watching that Top Gun spoof? You know, hotshots?
Long Duk Dong?
Turns out the entire jukebox played nothing but Tautophonic artists: The The, Miu Miu, Butros Butros, Sylvain Sylvain, Neon Neon, Dupont Dupont, Liquid Liquid, Talk Talk, Mr Mister, and Tsetse.
Koko Taylor, queen of the blues.
What, no tauntaun steak with tartar sauce?!
Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.
(not really the same thing, but it felt like it had to be said).
I had a teacher once who went by Bob McRoberts :) (not quite there, but one wonders what compelled his parents to name him Robert McRoberts).
Japanese has a few (small sampling)
gejigeji
perapera
daradara
dandan
garigari
potsupotsu
panpan
sarasara
zaza
wawa
tonton
waiwai
gayagaya
mechamecha
piripiri
batabata
kachinkachin
gishigishi
appuappu
wakuwaku
zuruzuru
atsuatsu
joujou
heihei
bonbon
menmen
guzuguzu
jabujabu
sousou
youyou
sekaseka
hokahoka
Who could forget Rochelle, Rochelle? The tale of a young girl's strange, erotic journey from Milan to Minsk.
Miou-Miou
There are always Coco, Kiki, Mimi and Gaga.
Figure skater Jo-Jo Starbuck comes to mind.
And then there's Yum-Yum from G@S "Mikado".but at
the risk of being seen as partisan,there is one
Hieronymous Hieronymous the Anonymous Cat a friend
nay, bosom buddy,a polydactyl plu-perfect puss to
the Wiz.H.H. is transgendered[she was Morgan le Fay,before she shape-shifted once too often] does she qualify?Bosch was O.K about it!
I'm glad someone finally mentioned Miou-Miou, who I'm sad never starred in a remake of _The Blue Angel_ as Lola Lola. And who I'm sure listens not only to Duran Duran, but to Talk Talk, Liquid Liquid, and Mister Mister. And the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
And let us not forget Joseph Heller's Major Major Major, or as he was known formally, Major Major Major Major.
Bebe Neuwirth was in there somewhere im sure
I went to Pago Pago with Lili Taylor and CeCe Wynans, but I contracted beriberi and got a boo-boo.
(Having just googled "beriberi" to make sure I was spelling it properly, I now realize that it is not funny.)
You know who was a great bassist? Dee Dee Ramone.
A list of real tautonyms from the phone book:
http://www.funnyname.com/list040p000.html
Jesus Christ.
Yo-Yo Ma!
My brother the inveterate punster once spotted Mr. Ma at the airport and had to restrain himself from shouting "Yo! Yo-Yo Ma! Yo mama!"
i i love love double double chex chex
better better than than the the rest rest
Zsa Zsa Gabor!
My 2 yr old son Dylan was nicknamed Deedee by his little friend who couldn't say his name properly. I like to play him music to dance to, so...
The other night, Deedee's dada played Do Do Do, Da Da Da ...that's all I want to say to you!
Lola Lola
Now for some songs by Dee Dee Bridgewater...
Shouldn't it be spelled Boutrous Boutrous-Ghali?
Another fun word about words that I think you will like: "tmesis" a.k.a. "tumbarumba," examples of which include "abso-fuckin'-lutely," "lah-dee-freakin'-dah," and "ri-god-damn-diculous.
What about Ma Cheng, whose given name is her family name compressed and tripled?
This thread is just so-so. [Asi-asi] {ma ma desu}
there is an actress named june june...
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0432476/
@34. You forgot to mention: Medium Medium.
There's probably quite a few of these once you consider Chinese nicknames which are often (always?) repeated syllables.
CoCo Chanel
I know a guy whose little son had a dolly called Boutrous.
Of course, the dolly's full name was Boutrous Boutrous-Dolly.
Not exactly the same, but I had a doctor once named Hue Wei, pronounced way way. She said it's a thing in China, not a huge thing, but still.
Also, my friend Bobo.
Now that you mention it, I used to have a coworker named Wei Wei.
US Representative Barbara Boxer
You should also include John Myers Myers (author of the great fantasy novel Silverlock as well as a non-fiction book of great Texas history entitled, of course, The Alamo).
My old college roommate was named Bobo (hello Scott!), and one of my co-workers is named Ying Ying.
I once met a woman called Miou-Miou (not sure of the spelling, she was Sino-Dutch or some similar combination).
And I saw a woman on a game show once who was called Gill Gill. (First name with a soft "g", I assume she had married a Mr. Gill).
What did the little French boy who had to go potty say?
Oui! Oui!
My aunt's name is Patricia Patrick. No joke.
I was friends with a guy named Lewis Lewis years ago.
Sirhan Sirhan's famous victim died 41 years and three days ago. RIP Bobby
:(
http://www.illy.com/wps/wcm/connect/us/illy/at-home/francis-francis-machines/
There was a shipbuilding magnate in colonial Massachusetts called "King Caesar", his house is a museum.
Not to take away from the awesomeness of the story, but Risky Ricardo doesn't really work -his first name is Enrique, not Ricardo.
What, no GusGus on the jukebox?
My friend's father and brother; Rob Robb Sr. and Jr.
I guess it would have been an implausible coincidence for Neville Neville to have walked in.
A few years ago in Queensland (Australia) I became away of the General Secretary of the Queensland Council of Unions - Grace Grace. She is now a Member of (the Queensland) Parliament.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tautonyms
The most common animals and plants all have tautonemic scientific names in Sweden. Thats because Linnaean taxonomy was invented by a Swede (the plant part, the rest was invented by his disciples) and most of his pupils, traveling the world giving names to species in the 18th century, also were Swedes and to them the prototype of every order was the specie most common at home.
What? And they weren't playing Dance Dance Revolution?
My father and grandfather both have / had the exact same first and last name. -The equivalent of Wilson Wilson. I kid you not.
what's the term for collocations of antithetical meanings or associations? Like "Cardinal Sin, or Major Minor ?
My actual name is Nguyen Nguyen.
#80 Takuan.in my lexicon those expressioms would be oxymorons like giant shrimp,frightfully amused,
king size economy pack.A paradox of expression
that Madison Avenue flogged to death.By the way my dear old mucker, Sam Johnson[Yes,the Doc] would
have loved the way you framed your question.He was a master of circumlocution or as he would put
it,circumbendibus,what a wag !
hoping for proper nouns
Let's bring in an expert.
[Runs out, returns shortly carrying a small child]
"What's wrong, kid?"
"My peepee made weewee." After further interrogation, we extracted the following:
Mama, dada, kookoo, no-no, boo-boo. Further interrogation apparently annoyed him, and he came out with Chi-chi, Poopoo. Caca. Doodoo.
I threw him- foul mouthed little bass turd!
Did Neneh Cherry ever record Iko-Iko? MeiMei is a common nickname in Chinese for a little sister. I adopted a Chinese girl who was named Yuan Yuan.
I know a man whose name is (swear to god) Farlane MacFarlane. We call him Lane.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogGWyGPyTsk
Robert Loblaw ("Bob Loblaw"), page him three times fast.
I'm glad there was a guest blogger recap because otherwise, I would have missed this one.
p.s. BOINGBOING!
I think a lot of pandas have tautonyms for names.
Does Roseanne Roseannadanna count?
True:
Jerry Kelley proposed to Kelli Jones.
It didn't stop the marriage, but the bride thought TWICE about it!
A-HA-ha-ha...
My favourite antelope is the Dik-Dik!