California: The Nickname

[womzilla]

So I got a very nice compliment today.

I posted a joke to rec.arts.sf.fandom, suggesting a Chris Berman-style nickname for the person I suspect is going to be California's next governor. (Chris Berman is a sportscaster who is remarkably clever in a lot of ways, but one of his trademarks is pun- and other wordplay-based nicknames for players, like Rick "See Ya Later" Aguilera or Jim "Two Sillouhettes on" DeShaies. There's a list of some of them over here.

So I suggested, Cruz "The Full" Bustamante.

In a follow-up article, Alan Winston said that I made him laugh 'til past the point at which it hurt. Which made me feel good, since everyone knows that the basis of comedy is suffering.

I decided to check Google to see if I was the first person to come up with this. I seem to be. But what I found really interesting is that Google has sold an advertisement tied to the word "bustamante": an ad for Peter Ueberroth for governor.

Comments

[trinker.livejournal.com]

-sigh-

I pronounce this name "boost-a-mahn-tay", and so all these jokes are really weird to me. It seems it requires a pronunciation of "bust-a-monty", yes?

[womzilla.livejournal.com]

I also pronounce it "bust-a-mahn-te", but it's close enough for the pun to work, don't you think?

[trinker.livejournal.com]

I don't tend to schwa-ify things quite as much as NorAm standard, and my mothertongue is a language that puts a great deal of emphasis on vowels, so sludging the vowels doesn't tend to work for me. Mileage varies.