Gag name

Key takeaways

Gag name belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Gag name to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Gag name from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

A gag name is a pseudonym intended to be humorous through its similarity to both a real name and a term or phrase that is funny, strange, or vulgar. The source of humor stems from the double meaning behind the phrase, although use of the name without prior knowledge of the joke could also be funny. Examples of the use of gag names occur in works of fiction in which there is a roll call, a listing of names, or a prank call. Some names that would be considered gag names have been adopted as stage names by performers, often in the adult entertainment industry.

Examples

People Occasionally, real people with a name that could be interpreted as a funny or vulgar phrase are subject to mockery or parody. For example, Hu Jintao, former General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, whose surname is pronounced like "who", and former Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, whose surname is pronounced like "when", have occasionally been the topic of humor similar to the "Who's on First?" sketch. Former US Congressman from New Hampshire Dick Swett's name, when pronounced, sounds like common slang for male genital perspiration (dick sweat). Other names in politics which could be regarded as gag names include John Boehner, Harry Baals, Dick Armey, Dick Pound, Dick Kink, and Tiny Kox (although Boehner's surname is properly pronounced "bay-ner", someone who has not heard the name in news coverage could mispronounce it as "boner", while Kox's name could be vulgar in English (cocks), but not in his home nation's Dutch). There are also various people named Richard "Dick" Head (dickhead), Mike Hunt (my cunt), Mike Rotch (my crotch), and Mike Hawk (my cock). Australian entrepreneur Dick Smith released a brand of matches named Dickheads, modeled after established brand Redheads. Roller derby teams and players frequently use gag names. Often, these are double entendres or suggestive. The genuine Indian name "Dikshit" (dick shit) has been repeatedly mocked in mass media, often to the offense of people bearing the name. Another well-known example was the Canadian Dick Assman (dick ass man), who received some public notoriety in 1995 for his name over the course of four months, especially from the Late Show with David Letterman. He died in 2016. In 2016, resident Rudy Pantoja, Jr. told a Seattle city councilwoman his name was "Hugh Mungus", and she replied, "Humongous what?" in a viral video gaining over 3 million views. T-shirts were sold with the gag name and Pantoja's face on them, while others accused him of sexual harassment. In October 2022, two amateur improvisational actors played a media prank, pretending to be newly fired Twitter employees "Rahul Ligma" and "Daniel Johnson" on the eve of Elon Musk's takeover of the company, and multiple major media outlets reported the incident as actual news. The Times of India called the Ligma–Johnson hoax "perfectly-timed" and "one of the greatest pranks on the Internet."

Newspapers On April 13, 2003, James Scott of the Charleston, South Carolina newspaper The Post and Courier reported that "Heywood Jablome" (a pun for "Hey, would you blow me?", "blow" being slang for fellate) was escorted from the premises while counterprotesting Martha Burk's protest at the Masters Tournament. He subsequently admitted to his being "duped" by the protester, who was in reality a morning disc jockey for a regional FM radio station. In 2014, Prior Lake High School students received a letter purportedly from the school district that described an upcoming "mandatory vagina inspection" for female students. The letter was signed "Barry McCockiner, Director, Department of Vaginal Corrections". The prank attracted worldwide attention and spawned copycat incidents at other schools around the country. "Barry" is meant to sound like "Bury" and "McCockiner" is meant to sound like "my cock in her".

Radio In 2007, an NPR reporter traveled to Hanover, New Hampshire to investigate a test cheating scandal, and interviewed a student who identified himself as Mike Rotch (my crotch). NPR's flagship news program All Things Considered included the fictitious student's name in its story.

Television In July 2013, KTVU in San Francisco aired fake names of the Asiana Airlines Flight 214 pilots: "Captain Sum Ting Wong" (Captain, something's wrong), "Wi Tu Lo" (we too low), "Ho Lee Fuk" (holy fuck), and "Bang Ding Ow" (onomatopoeia possibly involved with a crash), a false report which had been incorrectly confirmed by an NTSB intern acting "outside the scope of his authority," who, according to an NTSB spokesperson, had been "acting in good faith and trying to be helpful." The station later apologized, and fired Roland De Wolk and two other news producers over the error. In January 2017, U.K. sports broadcaster Sky Sports inadvertently reported that Aberdeen had signed a Turkish footballer called "Yerdas Selzavon" (phonetically "your da (father) sells Avon", a reference to the direct-selling cosmetics company) after falling for a gag name on a fake Twitter account. In 2017, a taxi driver filmed protesting against changes to taxi licensing in Melbourne, Australia gave his name as "Tsim Booky" to the Channel 9 Today Show; tsimbouki (τσιμπούκι) refers to fellatio in modern Greek. In June 2021, the recently launched GB News channel was plagued by a rash of hoax messages from news comment callers using gag names such as Mike Hunt (my cunt) and Mike Oxlong (my cock's long) to get on the air.

Social media In 2021, British politician Nigel Farage, who for a fee would upload personalised videos for fans on the Cameo website, was tricked into posting birthday greetings for "Hugh Janus" (huge anus). At one point, a web search for "acting CEO of Google" resulted in the answer "Nate Higgers". No such person is confirmed to exist; the claim originated on a LinkedIn profile purporting to belong to the fictitious executive. The name Nate Higgers is a spoonerism of "hate niggers", and the hoax is believed to be a satirical reference to allegations of racial discrimination within Google.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Gag name

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Gag name claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Gag name before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Gag name ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Gag name

In research: Gag name appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Gag name in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Gag name is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Humour, Names, Off-color humor, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Gag name outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study Gag name in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Gag name means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Gag name out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Gag name in simple terms?

A gag name is a pseudonym intended to be humorous through its similarity to both a real name and a term or phrase that is funny, strange, or vulgar. The source of humor stems from the double meaning behind the phrase, although use of the name without prior knowledge of the joke could also be funny.

Why does Gag name matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Gag name?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Gag name.