Five Nonsense Kids Character Names Explained

JeanneSager — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 20:27:00 GMT

Sometimes the names they give to our kids’ favorite characters sound like they had a kid in on production. I mean, Pikachu? I say Gesundheit.

But listening to Mike Myers explain the Yiddish origins of everyone’s favorite ogre on NPR’s Fresh Air last week made me wonder – are all characters like onions? Do they all have layers? Thanks to my anal retentive side and too much time to spend in front of my computer, I offer up the first edition of children’s character names explained.

Shrek: According to his creator, his name came not from the swamp but the Yiddish word for “scary.” We’ll trust the former Linda Richman on that one – after all, if we ask too much she might get a little ferklempt.

Pikachu: I always thought the yellow Pokemon had a rodent-look to him, and no wonder. Pikachu loosely translates to “Electric Sparkling Mouse” in Japanese. Known for storing electric in his puffy cheeks and a tail that looks more like a bolt of lighting shooting out of his rodent rear, we could boogie woogie woogie with that description.

Lightning McQueen: Since we’re on the subject, lightning is an obvious name for a fast car. But the source of Cars’ sexy red racer’s surname is often mistaken. He was dubbed “McQueen” not for bad boy actor Steve who spent many a movie shifting gears but for Pixar animator Glenn McQueen, who died in 2002 from skin cancer.

Nemo: The movie that proved even a scaredy clownfish can take on the big bad ocean, Finding Nemo is technically named for “no one.” At least that’s the Latin translation of “Nemo.” We’ll take it from the seagulls – he might be no one, but our kids wish he was “mine, mine, mine.”

Winnie the Pooh: A secondhand name is just fine for a bear of very little brain. Winnie is short for Winnipeg, the hometown of a Canadian soldier who gave his black bear of the same name to the London Zoo. That’s where author A.A. Milne and son Christopher Robin (natch) met the friendly female who Milne later immortalized in print. Pooh, by the way, is also secondhand – it was the moniker of the real Christopher Robin’s pet swan.

More to come . . .

Image: Dan-Dare

American Idol Contestant's father banned from backstage

Brett Singer — Tue, 13 May 2008 13:00:00 GMT

I don't watch American Idol, but if they showed more stuff like this maybe I would.

According to the Associated Press, David Archuleta's father has been banned from the show after having David add lyrics from a Sean Kingston's "Beautiful Girls" to his son's rendition of "Stand by Me". By doing that, the show had to pay more money in royalties (because it's, like, two songs instead of one I guess.)

Archuleta's dad, Jeff, was warned not to do this, but did it anyway. I'm going to guess that he was being a pain in the butt in other ways as well, although I have no proof of this. USA Today says that Jeff had been "a strong presence behind the scenes," which is usually showbiz lingo for "really really annoying." Jeff Archuleta referred to himself in an US Weekly interview as a "music consultant" rather than a "stage dad." Like I said, no proof that he's difficult to deal with. Just a guess.

Idolator says that the ban guarantees victory for David. Sympathy vote and all that. On the other hand, if you look at other dads who get way too involved in their kids' careers (paging Joe Simpson), maybe the producers of the show did him a favor.

Here's the performance that got dad booted:

Hear that bit at the end? "Bee-yoo-tiful girls"? That was it. It really made the number for me. You too, right? Riiight.

Here's the interesting thing: David, one of the three finalists in the contest, is only 17. I don't know what the legalities of this sort of action are. Can American Idol tell someone who is under 18 that they have to navigate the waters of television on their own? Doesn't he have the right to have a legal guardian around him if he wants it? Some media outlets have suggested that Idol allow only those over 18 to compete; this would seem to support that argument.

image: MTV.com

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Five Nonsense Kids Character Names Explained

American Idol Contestant's father banned from backstage