The Large Guy? That the best you got?
Nicknames of alleged members of organized crime normally distinguish themselves as interesting, colorful, funny, insulting, and/or all of the above. Growing up in Oak Park and River Forest, I became accustomed, as I imagine all of us did, to the presence of a group of wealthy people with curious nicknames - but we were all sort of afraid to talk about it.
You want colorful? Check out these names from the 'hood: Tony "The Big Tuna" Accardo (parenthetically, in whose basement I practiced dance moves in high school [not while he was there, of course]), Sam "Momo" Giancana, Paul "The Waiter" Ricca (whose house we pedaled past to the River Forest Community Center), Anthony "The Ant" Spilotro, and Joey "Doves" Aiuppa, to name just a few.
Shouldn't an alleged mob guy have a better name than The Large Guy?
Or maybe not. Take a look. He is, in fact, a large guy, and not an especially snappy dresser, so colorful names don't spring immediately to mind. In fact, there's something so aggressively unimaginative about his nickname that I'm starting to kind of like it. I'm switching my vote right now.
More tastiness below because I just can't stop today. Damn that Dunkin' - I don't think that was Dunkin' Decaf they gave me. Here you go:
a jumble of treats:
--> Re nicknames: Back in the Pleistocene era, the Bears played an exhibition match in China, and the translators had a whale of a time with some of the players' nicknames. Walter "Sweetness" Payton was translated as "Sweet Person," while William "The Refrigerator" Perry was introduced to Chinese viewers as "The Electric Ice Box."
--> More nicknames: The Village Voice published a terrific list of the 20 Best Mob Nicknames in the Big 2011 Mafia Bust.
--> Also for fun, I found a blog post on the topic of growing up with a Mob presence in Oak Park and River Forest, that felt oddly familiar.
--> Speaking of unimaginative names, this whole "Large Guy" business reminds me of anti-jokes and anti-humor. A meme, I guess? When they work, they're funny because they're not funny, and The Large Guy falls squarely into this realm. The Anti Joke site explains it better than I can:
What are Antijokes? Anti Jokes (or Anti Humor) is a type of comedy
in which the listener is set up to expect a typical joke setup; however, the
joke ends with such anticlimax that it becomes funny in its own right.
The lack of punchline is the punchline.
The large majority of anti-jokes are tasteless and un-PC, as you'll see if you click the link above, but here's a clean one I like. They can't be too clever - like "A dyslexic walks into a bra" is funny but way too clever to qualify, in my book. So, in summary, anti-humor is huge with a certain demographic - are we in the post-ironic era yet, maybe? - and whether he knows it or not, The Large Guy is definitely rollin' with the zeitgeist at the moment.www.susanhardy.org
3 comments:
Michael the Large Guy's head is too small for his body. It looks as if it were badly applied by a Photoshop novice. It is a head that is sort of asea atop his formidable frame.
You're right, Denise. He's not living quite as large these days, so more like The Smaller-But-Still-Pretty-Large Guy. Also, the man just got 25 years: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-judge-to-sentence-reputed-mobster-the-large-guy-20120208,0,6998975.story
You put a big smile on my face this morning Susan. In O.P. I couldn't help but think of *that guy* who's name escapes me making I think sausage w/peppers in his little basememt kitchen and answering his door only to "catch his lunch". Sure can't think of his name but our house there seemed close enough to where they lived that it made me a little uncomfortable, eh? "Two peanuts were walking down the street. One was (as)saulted." Happy early Valentine's Day! Love, Mom/Grammy
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