January 31, 2018

Perhaps you will share my sense of humor.

I have been laughing about this — often quite hysterically and to the point of physical pain — for 2 days.

Here's a screen capture from a segment of Tucker Carlson that aired a couple days ago:



Meade seriously believed the professor's name was "Suing Nyu" and he was trying to pronounce it.

A wider view of the image shows that the professor's name is Michael Rectenwald, but it's a split screen with the real name under the image on the left:



Obviously, that's Tucker Carlson on the left, but that's why you might ignore the name "Michael Rectenwald." It's under the guy you know, and you're trying to figure out who the other guy is. Right under him are 3 words, beginning with "Professor," which looks like the start of his name.

And in this world of celebrating diversity, we no longer expect names to look like John Smith and Tom Jones. Isn't "Sung" a Korean name, so why not "Suing"?

I see that the most-nominated woman at the Grammys was SZA. I'm told it's pronounced "sizza," and you're making a mistake if you just try saying the letters S-Z-A.

So "NYU"... you can say that can't you? Don't say N-Y-U. Say "nyew."

61 comments:

Big Mike said...

“That’s not funny.”

(Well, actually it is funny, but I could not resist the 21st century SJW slogan.)

YoungHegelian said...

He doesn't look Nyu-ish.

jwl said...

I saw first photo and thought Nyu was Indonesia or Thailand surname and that fella does not look native of south seas.

traditionalguy said...

Tucker's incredulous face is a weapon. It stunned Meade into disbelief in his guest's name being "Rectenwald." That's less of a name than Nyu.

tim in vermont said...

There’a a PGA golfer whose name I cannot spell, but it’s pronounced Soon You’ll Know. Abbot and Costello wish they could have come up with that one.

“Who won the golf tournament?”
“Soon you’ll know.”
“But I want to know now.”

MadisonMan said...

Hmm. Was he called 'Rectalwall' in 7th grade, do you think?

Otherwise, beat to the bunch by Hegelian. (chuckle)

I'm glad you can make each other laugh.

cubanbob said...

I don't think NYU finds his lawsuit amusing.

Fernandinande said...

He's a drug addicted misogynist racist Nazi because he's not a fan of trigger warnings and safe spaces.

Bob Boyd said...

I tell ya, life ain't easy for a boy named Suing

Ann Althouse said...

I haven't laughed this much about something in more than 30 years.

rhhardin said...

There were also Sum Ting Wong, Wi Tu Lo, and Ho Lee Fuk, Korean Airlines flight crew.

Ambrose said...

Suing Nyu - a client any lawyer would be happy to have.

Ann Althouse said...

There are 2 things I can remember laughing this much about, but it was back in the 1970s.

If I just think about trying to say "Suing NYU" as a name, I will crack up and laugh hysterically.

rhhardin said...

My most memorable gut-hurting laughter was Ernie Kovacs with the tilted room lunch eating big. On youtube today I notice it's not particularly funny. It's a got-it-the-first-time extended bit.

Ann Althouse said...

By the way I went to NYU law school, but I don't think that has anything to do with my laughing about this. It's just the perfection of the centering of the words under Rectenwald and the way Meade was clearly fooled and really trying to say the name.

Thank God, Meade never gets mad at me for laughing "at" him. He finds it very funny too and is also laughing "at" me for being absolutely insane about this tiny morsel of humor.

Nonapod said...

Tucker Carlson has perfected that goofy expression of bemusement and disbelief. It's especially funny when some rambling loon is laying out their crazy argument.

gspencer said...

NYC is loaded with professor/professional loons, including all those willing to sue.

"Derald Wing Sue is a professor of psychology at Columbia University. He's also an early promoter of the idea of "microaggressions."

CJinPA said...

I think Althouse likes name humor,

Which is not far from the general wordplay/origins of words she enjoys.

Chuck said...

Nonapod said...
Tucker Carlson has perfected that goofy expression of bemusement and disbelief. It's especially funny when some rambling loon is laying out their crazy argument.

But wasn't this set up by Tucker's producers as being a story of a guy who had non-PC beliefs, and who was set upon by PC faculty members at NYU? I presume that Tucker was thinking that the guy had a good claim; am I right about that? Whereas if the politics had been reversed, and a liberal prof was suing conservatives for calling him names, Tucker would have reversed the tone of the interview and set it up as a frivolous lawsuit by an academic snowflake. Right?

You are of course right about the patented Tucker Carlson face of dumfounded disbelief when interviewing one of the poor saps that his producers troll for on a daily basis. It's a bit surprising that any person would agree to do an A-block interview with Tucker when they know it is going to be a hit-piece. That is why we so regularly see nobodies from the left who are simply cannon fodder for Tucker Carlson. But sometimes not, as was the case here. All that is necessary is a good culture-war angle to get the Fox News audience's blood roiling after a few hours of mostly-sensible news from Bret Baier and Martha Macallum.

I rather like Tucker Carlson personally. I don't like the production of his Fox show.

Bob Boyd said...

Well, it was Madison in mid-July
I just hit town and my throat was dry
And I knew a place where coffee was always brewing
At an old bakery full of college toffs
There at a table with an iPad knockoff
Sat the dirty, mangy dog that named me "Suing"

Well, I knew that snake was Ann's own sweet Meade
From a blog post picture I'd recently see'd
And I knew that cap on his head and his evil eye
He was thin and wiry and gray and old
And I looked at him and my blood ran cold
And I said: "My name is 'Suing!' How you doing!?
Now you gonna die!"
Yeah that's what I told 'em

tim in vermont said...

Chuck wants a Republican Party unsoiled by plebeian voters. He wasn’t the kinds of voters Hillary got, tie up all of the rich suburbs and cities. That’s what the Republican Party should stand for!

Bay Area Guy said...

Yes, it's damn funny! And it reminds me of my favorite Chinese restaurant in Greenwich Villiage - Won Hung Lo

CJinPA said...

It's a bit surprising that any person would agree to do an A-block interview with Tucker when they know it is going to be a hit-piece.

Kind of like any non-progressive agreeing to be interviewed on any other network news or entertainment program. They know their kind ain't welcome 'round these parts.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

Here is the most recent time I could not stop laughing. Last week we were in Phoenix visiting family and I kept seeing a chain of gas stations called Superpumper. I remarked to Mr. Pants how that sounds awfully dirty and we had a nice chuckle and moved on. Later we passed another one and I said, "How can you name a gas station Superpounder? I mean that sounds like a porn movie?!" He started laughing and said, yes, especially since you made it even dirtier for some reason, you insanazoid! I laughed for probably ten minutes straight and yes I peed myself, which is not hard to do since I'm at week 35 of my fifth pregnancy.

Sidebar: I adore being married to someone I can laugh with so much. It wasn't that way in my first marriage.

MikeR said...

So now you can sue someone if they mispronounce your name?

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

Also, nice one, Bob!

mezzrow said...

Get "Swing New!" - just the answer for that pesky slice...

This revolutionary diagnostic club will fix your swing, balance your spine, wash your balls, and put the spring back into your FootJoys.

Bay Area Guy said...

Sometimes, Chuck is a killjoy

Nonapod said...

I agree that it's weird that people go on shows that are hosted by someone who is hostile to their point of view. I can only assume that people believe they'll be able to somehow "win" against a person who can cut them off and completely dismiss them at any time.

And even if you subscribe to the notion that for certain audiences, "winning" is less about making a strong, logically consistent argument that the host is unable to refute, and more about an emotional victory (ensuring one person is more likeable than the other), you'd still have to assume that most of the people who are watching that show are already fans of the host from a personality standpoint. So you're starting at a negative on that battlefield too.

So why do certain people go hostile shows? I can only assume it's because they're idiots.

MadisonMan said...

If I run into you in the next weeks, I'll just say "Suing Nyu" and see what happens.

Of course, I've never run into you before, so I don't see why it would happen now.

Bay Area Guy said...

Billie Holiday song:

I'll be suing nyu in all the old familiar places.

Meade said...

"My name is 'Suing!' How you doing!?" made me laugh out loud and now, once again, I can't stop laughing out loud.

Meade said...

What have I become
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know is suing NYU
Again
And you could have it all
My NYU empire of political correctness
I will let you down
I will make you sue
If I could start again
A million miles away
I would keep myself out of litigation
I would find a retainer fee

madAsHell said...

Sum Ting Wong
We Too Low
Ho Lee Fuq

Gahrie said...

Am I the only one who notices that Chuckles spends 99% of his time attacking the Right?

Of course not, we all do.

To be fair, it's what the GOP Establishment does.

Bob Boyd said...

"Sum Ting Wong
We Too Low
Ho Lee Fuq"

Don't forget Bang Ding Ow

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“I laughed for probably ten minutes straight and yes I peed myself, which is not hard to do since I'm at week 35 of my fifth pregnancy.

Sidebar: I adore being married to someone I can laugh with so much. It wasn't that way in my first marriage.”

Thanks for the update on your pregnancy! I was about to ask you when I saw your name and avatar. May you have an eventless labor and birth and may Baby Pants be a happy fat baby that sleeps through the night really quickly. I’m always so happy for you when I read about your second joyful marriage. Goes to show, that life is too short to waste with someone that makes you miserable.

n.n said...

world of celebrating diversity

Around 7 billion Duck Dynasties and counting.

A Man with a Hat said...

A student name on the class roster was L-a. Asked how to pronounce it, the student replied indignantly: It is just as it looks "el dash ah". True story.

Curious George said...

"Chuck said...
I rather like Tucker Carlson personally."

You don't know Tucker Carlson personally.

Rance Fasoldt said...

“Bemusement” means confusion, not amusement. Common error. My mother corrected me, in her nineties, God bless her.

tcrosse said...

Suppose it was Soon-Yi Suing NYU ?

Clyde said...

Funny, he doesn't look Chinese. (Although those ancient nomads were called Hsiung-nu, modernized to Xiongnu.)

Nancy said...

Ann, my sister and I are into nominal destiny, e.g my dentist whose name was Dr. Fillmore, and the percussionist in our local symphony orchestra named Raymond Breakall.

Fritz said...

Mildly amusing but not 2 days worth of laughing funny.

Curious George said...

"Nancy said...
Ann, my sister and I are into nominal destiny, e.g my dentist whose name was Dr. Fillmore, and the percussionist in our local symphony orchestra named Raymond Breakall."

My son went to junior high and high school with a girl named Eden Seamon. The first time he heard her name was when it was announced over the school PA for her to come to the office. The admin making the announcement said "Eden Seamon please come to...wait, that can't be right."

I went to high school with a Mary Christmas, and her sisters name was Carol (so first name last was Christmas, Carol)

Ann Althouse said...

LOL at Superpounder

James K said...

Whereas if the politics had been reversed, and a liberal prof was suing conservatives for calling him names, Tucker would have reversed the tone of the interview and set it up as a frivolous lawsuit by an academic snowflake. Right?

The problem with your scenario is that in a university this would never happen, as you can't find enough "conservatives" to gang up on anyone. Which of course is the real point of the story, not this particular incident. Groupthink and harassment by conservatives of a liberal would be equally bad, but in fact is nonexistent and essentially impossible at any university.

dgstock said...

I thought it was spelled sueing

A woman whose name is La-Sha must inform everyone it's pronounced Ladasha

JAORE said...

I see that the most-nominated woman at the Grammys was SZA. I'm told it's pronounced "sizza," and you're making a mistake if you just try saying the letters S-Z-A.

SZA who?

tim in vermont said...

There’s a gynecologist in Boston, or was one years ago, named Dr Longcock. Not kidding. Presumably he could perform cervix checks no-handed. Except it was a woman.

tim in vermont said...

There was an article recently hereabouts written about a local “activist” named “Budjinski” Not kidding either.

Bill Peschel said...

Hippodomia. That, I was told, was the word for unrestrained laughter, the kind that Ann experienced. Unfortunately, I can't confirm that (checking Google), but I like the concept anyway.

There is another word I can contribute: Gemütlichkeit.

It's the comfortable feeling you have among friends. Pronounced (at least by myself, and I am half-German FWIW): Ge-MICK-la-KITE. The initial G is pronounced short, not G as in "gee-whiz".

The worst outbreak was when myself and my wife watched the first couple of seasons of "Futurama." There were moments when we had to pause the DVD to absorb the moment.

In fact, my wife earlier today reminded me of this exchange that she believes only a woman could have written: https://youtu.be/wk3toZKpQyU

Meade said...

"Mildly amusing but not 2 days worth of laughing funny."

But then you sir are apparently not insane.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Hmmm... the guy doesn't look Asian.

My favorite made-up Asian names from screenshots are the following:

Captian Sum Ting Wong
Wee Too Low
Ho Lee Fuk (Pronounced by newscaster as "FOOK" - you know, because how could a foreign name be profane in English)
Bang Ding Ow

Stephen Colbert pointed out that, since the Asiana Airlines Pilots were Korean, it would be "racist" to make fun of them using Chinese names. And hence, he changed them to:

Park Mee Plen Tu Sun

Ha Yu Lan Dis Tang (said in a questioning tone)

Much funnier.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Ah.. I see that madashell, bob boyd and of course chicken guy rhhardin beat me to it.

As long as we're waxing Colbert here, how about his star Arab American viewer Suq Madiq?

Opinh Bombay said...

Did Mr Nyu ever get that partnership at Dewey Cheatham and Howe?

Freeman Hunt said...

He nyu he'd never be able to suing that pronunciation.

Freeman Hunt said...

"Professor Nyu! Professor Nyu!"
"Professor knew what?"
"No, I'm looking for Professor Nyu."
"Suing? By the coffee machine."
"Sorry, I don't have time to get coffee for you, sir."
"I don't want any coffee."
"Why do you want me to swing by there?"
"For Nyu."
"Kind of you to think of me, but I don't drink coffee."
"Surely you don't avoid it to such an extreme!"

jr565 said...

"My favorite made-up Asian names from screenshots are the following:

Captian Sum Ting Wong
Wee Too Low
Ho Lee Fuk (Pronounced by newscaster as "FOOK" - you know, because how could a foreign name be profane in English)
Bang Ding Ow"
That is still the best trolling news story of all time. I can't see that ever being topped.

D.E. Cloutier said...

When I was in the newspaper business, I occasionally had to write about a female bureaucrat with the surname Fuchs. Each time I mentioned her in an article, I stayed late at work to make sure some typesetter didn't misspell her name.

Unfortunately, a typing error slipped by me in a sentence about a picnic sponsored by U.S. Vice President Hubert Humphrey during the Vietnam War. The sentence said, "Humphrey served barbecued children and strawberry shortcake at the picnic."

But that wasn't as bad as the typo in a headline above a guy's picture in a Southern California newspaper almost 50 years ago. "Instead of saying "The Pen is Mightier Than the Sword," the headline said, "The Penis Mightier Than a Sword."