(no subject)

[unbibium]

I have memories of a long streak of movies where anyone with a long Polish last name has it shortened to a one-syllable nickname. But when I tried to come up with examples, in an attempt to acknowledge darquis' birthday, I couldn't think of any examples aside from Steve "Woz" Wozniak, who exists in real life, "Kube" Kubiak from Parker Lewis, whose name isn't that long, and the guy from There's Something About Mary, whose name I couldn't remember.

Is there really such a collection of names, or am I out "bicycling"?

Comments

[vyus.livejournal.com]

i did know a guy at my old job named "micolyczyk" (or some such) that went by "Mick."

[kirkjerk.livejournal.com]

Hmmm...
Barney Miller had Stan 'Wojo' Wojciehowicz according to IMDB-- though I thought I remembered that as "Woj" more than "Wojo"

"bicycling"?

[sunburn.livejournal.com]

One summer I started work at a store at the same time as a cute girl who had just (i.e. <2 months) married a man with the Polish name Skrzypczak. Without reading further, any guesses as to how to pronounce it?

She said that signing it was the most difficult part, and for that reason, her last name was very legible because she more or less had to spell it out in her head while she wrote it (in big loopy girly cursive, I noticed-- it was the sort of job where you have to sign money in and out, etc.).

However, we did not have a one-syllable name for her, because Skryzpczak is very easy to say, despite appearances: "Scripp-chak"