Remember Abbott and Costello’s hilariously funny baseball skit, “Who’s on First?”
There have been several renderings of it, but basically the lengthy exchange revolves around Abbott trying to explain to Costello, who is on a mythical baseball team, the names of the players on the team and how ball-players are given funny names.
Part of the exchange:
Abbott: Strange as it may seem, they give ball players nowadays very peculiar names.
Costello: Funny names?
Abbott: Nicknames, nicknames. Now, on the St. Louis team we have Who’s on first, What’s on second, I Don’t Know is on third–
Costello: That’s what I want to find out. I want you to tell me the names of the fellows on the St. Louis team.
Abbott: I’m telling you. Who’s on first, What’s on second, I Don’t Know is on third–
Costello: You know the fellows’ names?
Abbott: Yes.
Costello: Well, then who’s playing first?
Abbott: Yes.
Costello: I mean the fellow’s name on first base.
Abbott: Who.
Costello: The fellow playin’ first base.
Abbott: Who.
Costello: The guy on first base.
Abbott: Who is on first.
And it goes from there…
Many versions and “derivatives” have come out of Abbott and Costello’s original spoof, including a “modern” version involving computers and computer lingo. Please read it here.
Of course, homophony has been used effectively in comedy and satire for a long time.
Take another hilarious (fictitious) conversation between George W. Bush and his Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, in which Rice tries to explain to the president that Hu Jintao is the new leader of China.
It is titled “Who is Hu?” and it goes something like this:
President: “Secretary! Nice to see you. What’s happening?”
Secretary: “Sir, I have the report here about the new leader of China.”
President: “Great. Lay it on me.”
Secretary: “‘Hu’ is the new leader of China.”
President: “That’s what I want to know.”
Secretary: “That’s what I’m telling you.”
President: “That’s what I’m asking you. Who is the new leader of China?”
Secretary: “Yes.”
President: “I mean the fellow’s name.”
Secretary: “Hu.”
President: “The guy in China.”
Secretary: “Hu.”
President: “The new leader of China.”
Secretary: “Hu.”
President: “The Chinaman!”
Secretary: “Hu is leading China.”
And, again, it goes on from there, eventually involving Yasser Arafat (“Yes sir”), U.N Secretary-General Kofi Annan (“coffee”) and even Rice herself (“rice”).
With the upcoming summit between Trump and the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un (in North Korea, Kim Jong Un, “three distinct names, without a hyphen”), it appears unavoidable – serious as the issues are — that there will be some comic (mis) uses of the leader’s last name, “Un” (in fact, part of his given name) and plenty of opportunities for faux pas as the brand-new Secretary of State already found out when he referred to the North Korean leader as “Chairman Un,” mistaking “part of Mr. Kim’s given name for his family name.”
The New York Times notes that, according to John Delury, an expert on China and the Koreas, it can be “be linguistically confusing for Asians when Americans transition quickly to calling them by their given names — an informality that can often be seen as disrespectful in an East Asian context.”
But back to the North Korean leader.
One needs to be very careful when using “Un” in a sentence or headline.
Not only can it be disrespectful, but it can also lead to huge confusion if a space is accidentally left out after Un’s last name given name, or one is reading very fast.
As in:
“North Korea Leader Un Does Trump’s Summit”
“North Korea Leader Un Impressed by Trump’s Offer”
“North Korea Leader Un Invites Trump”
“The Un-Trump Meeting”
Or, hope against hope, “North Korea Leader Un Censors Media”
Still, not much will top The Onion’s story in 2012 Un naming naming Un “Sexiest Man Alive for 2012″, which quickly got picked up by China’s People’s Daily in a “55-page online picture spread of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un being named The Onion’s ‘Sexiest Man Alive for 2012.’”
(Part of the title of The Onion’s story is “Onion’s Kim Jong-un spoof.”)
The English online edition of the People’s Daily quoted The Onion in part:
With his devastatingly handsome, round face, his boyish charm, and his strong, sturdy frame, this Pyongyang-bred heartthrob is every woman’s dream come true…Blessed with an air of power that masks an unmistakable cute, cuddly side, Kim made this newspaper’s editorial board swoon with his impeccable fashion sense, chic short hairstyle, and, of course, that famous smile.
Could that have been the Un leashing of Un?
Lead image: Donkeyhotey.com
