A Stunt Flyer by Any Other Name...

Is it just me, or do a lot of prominent stunt flyers have unpronounceable names?

(Disclaimer: The following is intended as humorous commentary. No offense is intended to anyone named herein)

As a kid I had read about my stunt heroes for years before my first Nats. I couldn't wait to meet the likes of Gialdani, Gierke, Gieseke, Rabe, Trostle, Urtnowski. They were often too busy to approach, but I finally saw who I hoped was Dave Gierke alone, polishing one of his beautiful Novi's. I walked up and said "Hi, the Novi is one of my favorite stunters. Are you Dave Gierke?". I pronounced his name phonetically, using all the vowels as gee-air-kee. He growled "It's GRRRRR-KEEEE", and turned away shaking his head.

Anyway, since that time I have found that this name pronuciation thing is still confusing. On one of Windy's tapes he talks about Al Rabe, saying "Rabe" as rhyming with "baby". OK, that was news to me, so I felt gladdened I would at least never mispronounce that name. Then, of course, I watched one of Bob Hunt's tapes, and Bill Werewage talks about Al Rabe, pronouncing "Rabe as rhyming with "babe". Sigh.....

This keeps happening. On one tape I hear Urtnowski pronounced "yert-now-skee", and on another it's "ert-now-ski". For years I've heard modelers talk about Keith Trostle, rhyming his name with Fossil, then when I meet the man, he is introduced as Trostle, pronounced "troe-sul. Depending on who is talking or what tape you've got, Werewage is either "wir-wij" or "ware-wij", Gialdani is either "gee-all-dawn-ee" or "jee-all-dawn-ee", Gieseke is either "juh-sek-ee" or gee-skee".

Some of your names I have no trouble with. I'm pretty sure Peabody is "pee-buddy", for instance, and Buck is, well, buck. But what about Marcucci, Ion and Iskandar Taib?

By the way, even though my name is pronounced phonetically as it is spelled (grow-man), through my entire life I have been addressed as gor-man, grew-man and gruh-man. One piece of mail turned me into Grogon, which to me sounds like something that crawled out of Tokyo bay.

Bill,

Great post. My name is simply pronounced "Joans" ( like more than one Joan ), but then I am not a real stunt flier either!

Sometimes it's just difficult to figure out how to pronounce some names. I always like the guys who come up to me and expect me to know them because they e-mailed me. I usually say you sure don't look like you type.
Bill Calkins (Call Kins)not (Kal kins)

>... One piece of
>mail turned me into Grogon,
>which to me sounds like
>something that crawled out of
>Tokyo bay.
>
>Bill Groman

... or a Lord of the Rings movie...

I confess that my name isn't terribly easy to pronounce (mick-Teag), but then I'm no stunt flier, either .

Tim McTigue

Hey Tim,

I always though Ryan would make a good name for a stunt flyer, though that couldn't be proven watching me fly. Guess its too easy to pronounce, mabe I'll change it to McMonigal or McQuish.

I've noticed the very same thing. An illustartion of the wide and varied origins of the American population, I suppose.

Its really noticable in movie credits too... US movies have names from all parts of the globe, Aussie movies tend to feature more Irish and Greek names while anything out of this place, New Zealand (Lord of the Rings et al) have almost exclusively English and Scots names. You know, "normal" names like "Ramsbottom", "Bunnythorpe" and "McCrotchett".

Welcome to the only sport where dope is not only legal, but often recommended!

You could try having my name (Thadd) sounds like thudd, which is the noise my airplanes make when returning to earth, (Faussett)
pronounced (faw) (set). One day maybe I'll be a stunt flyer.

My name (Kelvin) is on lightbulbs all over the world, but how many folks have heard of the color temperature scale or its inventor? Blessed few I guess. Are you old enough to remember the refrigerators of a similar name? My fave was an envelope addressed to Calvin Health. That's pretty good, considering that I'm an RN.

Also, my namesake Lord Kelvin was quoted as saying that radio is a fad which will not last long at all. Well, we all have off days.....

Hey, the Kelvin scale is my favorite! By that measure, our current temperature sounds really, really hot (it's going down to -30 or so tonight, which isn't much different on either of the two "other" scales, Farenheit or Centigrade...).

> Also, my namesake Lord
>Kelvin was quoted as saying
>that radio is a fad
>which will not last long
>at all.

I guess it depends on what "long" is.. I suppose you could make a case for it not being popular anymore, what with most people watching TV these days.. ^_-

> Also, my namesake Lord Kelvin...

I like Kelvin connections, myself.
But Lord Kelvin's name was Bill.

LAST EDITED ON Jan-24-03 AT 08:05 AM (CDT)

>> Also, my namesake Lord Kelvin...
>
>I like Kelvin connections, myself.
>But Lord Kelvin's name was Bill.
>
>
>Preston
>

I'll guess there might be more than just a couple folks here that know what these are

LAST EDITED ON Jan-24-03 AT 11:39 AM (CDT)

Oh yeah, Kelvin...He's the guy that said it is zero when molecules get so cold they can't wiggle. I like that scale - it never dips below zero

Those of us who are less than serious stunt pilots have an "e" in out title...wannabe

My moniker is Bain (like pain, which I guess I am sometimes).

>LAST EDITED ON Jan-24-03
>AT 11:39 AM (CDT)
>
> Oh yeah, Kelvin...He's the guy
>that said it is zero
>when molecules get so cold
>they can't wiggle. I like
>that scale - it never
>dips below zero
>
> Those of us who are
>less than serious stunt pilots
>have an "e" in out
>title...wannabe
>
> My moniker is Bain (like
>pain, which I guess I
>am sometimes).
>
> George

Right! My dad is a physicist, and he did a lot of research on solid state physics. You dip the molecules in liquid nitrogen, and they slow down, making it possible to find out things about them that at a more "normal" temperature wouln't be feasable

In Him,

>I like Kelvin connections, myself.

Yeh, Preston, my resistance to a lot of things is pretty low, too.
K

>> I like Kelvin connections, myself.
>
> Yeh, Preston, my resistance to a lot
> of things is pretty low, too.

LAST EDITED ON Jan-24-03 AT 09:16 PM (CDT)

LAST EDITED ON Jan-24-03 AT 00:34 AM (CDT)

Interesting observation and post. Something else I find interesting. The last syllable in all of the following names end with the "long e" sound.

National Stunt Champions:

Bob Gialdini
Bob Gieseke
Bart Klapinski
Bob Lampione
Art Pawloski
Al Rabe
Jim Silhavy
Bob Whitely

Other designers, personalities or otherwise Famous Stunt Fliers:

Ed Capitanelli
Gordon Delaney
Dave Gierke
Jim Kostecky
Charles Mackey
Joe Musumeci
Mario Rodinelli
Larry Scarinzi
Windy Urtnowski
Steve Wooley

There was a rumor at one time that Wynn Paul was going to change his name to Pauli or Pauley, but then he made the FAI team once and placed in the top 5 several times so evidently decided he did not need to do that.

If I have left any names off of this list that should be on it, it was not intentional. (Note on 24 Jan edit at about 9:15 PM: I had left Gordon Delaney's name off of the original listing above. Gordie's name is now on the list as it should have been originally. I apologize for the omission. It was not intentional.)

(I was going to make some dumb comment about a stunt mafia, but with a name like Klapinski in the mix, such a reference does not work. So I decided not to mention it.)

LAST EDITED ON Jan-24-03 AT 00:37 AM (CDT)

Keith,

And:

P. Walker
Fitzgerald
Fancher (OK, a little off)
Buck
Cox
Perry

and then there's Jim Walker and that Palmer guy.

Hmm, there are SOME that are, uh, normal. Well, maybe not really normal, but...

>LAST EDITED ON Jan-24-03
>AT 00:37 AM (CDT)
>
>Keith,
>
>And:
>
>P. Walker
>Fitzgerald
>Fancher (OK, a little off)
>Buck
>Cox
>Perry
>
>and then there's Jim Walker and
>that Palmer guy.
>
>Hmm, there are SOME that are,
>uh, normal. Well, maybe not
>really normal, but...
>
>Randy

Bob Hunt...

Keith,

Seems that you left quite a few out!

>Keith,
>
>Seems that you left quite a
>few out!
>
>Jim

As I said in my post, I did not intentionally leave any names out. I went through my files looking for names that endded with the "long e" sound in the last syllable of their name. This is the list that I came up with. If there are other individuals that should be on that list, I would really like to be enlightened.

The National Stunt Champion list is complete. Those who have placed at the Nationals (or the Team Trials - Wooley) and/or have published several articles about stunt make up the other list.

LAST EDITED ON Jan-24-03 AT 06:08 PM (CDT)

Ahh Kieth, you forgot Gordan Delaneeeeeey.

And for my fellow Scots on the board, My last name, Miller, (with, drats, a sifnificant lack of the long eeee sound, so no wonder I'm still flying in Advanced class.) comes from Bieth, in Ayreshire, a short ways from Glaskow. We're part of the McFarland clan, best known for stealing cattle from our nieghbors. Oh, yes there was a "small' battle where we redeemed ourselves, as Archers, defending the king. "Loc sloy".

>Ahh Kieth, you forgot Gordan Delaneeeeeey.
>
>John Miller

John,

You are right. I screwed up. How could I miss one of my idols? But I sure did. No slight intended. I will fix my post as soon as I post this.

I once made the mistake of asking JC Yates what the "JC" stood for. He said, "JC", as on my birth certificate!"

I didn't realize that people may not have real names! It apparently was (and is) common for people in the south to have only initials instead of names. JC liked to be called "Jay".

Floyd (some nicknames I have had: "stomper", "footsie", "effie", "stretch" (because of my tall skinny frame and size 14 shoe).

Ha. Stunt flyer, me? More of a little godzillita the way I wreckem!! Actually for many years I too pronounced my last name incorrectly. Then I started taking Italian lessons and found how my name was pronounced. Even my grandfather used two different pronounciations (sp?)!! I used to go by Mar coo see only to find it is Mar Coo Chee. Damned Italian language. CCI is like Chee in English. My first name is Irish, but I'm not, go figure. So, to make is simple for everyone, I just go by Ty.

Had a friend in the same situation. His name was Ricci, which his family had pronounced "Ricky", then found that it was really "Ree Chee". (Pardon the attempt at phonetics, or is it fonetiks)

LAST EDITED ON Jan-23-03 AT 11:50 PM (CDT)

t

On reading your post, I thought, Hey, with a name like Beskow I might get good at this sport yet! Now that I understand that my name should be Beskowee, there's no hope.....

By the way, can you pronounce Beskow?

In most Eastern European languages the "w" is a "v", I suppose..

Polish has got to be the weirdest in terms of spelling -> pronunciation. I think it's because they used the Roman alphabet in place of Cyrillic.

O.K. Bill

Here goes, my last name is a combination of norman and galec.

Soooo- POLLOCK phonetically is something like PAWL-LOCK but not quite - the actual pronunciation of the first "O" is a little hard to get exactly right! The original spelling of the name circa 1260 is POLLOK. It is a name of some land in scotland that was given to my forebearers by Fulbert. The lands were the "UPPER" and "LOWER" Pollok, the UPPER was inhabited by my family while the "LOWER" was inhabited by our families allied clan called the "MAXWELLS". Actually these two ancient scottish families are so intertwined that my name could have actually been Maxwell. Well, enough of the scottish history lesson.

"Aduacter et Strenue" - My Family Motto meaning "Boldy and Strongly"

Hey Jim. Any Scots by the name of Trackwell or Rogers in your tree? If so we are ralated. Wouldn't that be a hoot. Uncle Jim. nah.

Ty,

You're older than I am! That would make you the uncle wouldn't it?????

Nope none of those names in my family - Oh well, I guess it's not a relational thing after all - shucks - I was looking for
a rich uncle too!

HMMM... Seems that if I ever want to be a famous stunt pilot I will have to change my name. Let's see how this converstaion goes...

JUDGE: Mr. Fincher just why do you want to change your name.

ME: Your Honor, I want to be a famous Control Line Stunt Pilot.

JUDGE: What is a Control Line Stunt Pilot?

ME: A C/L Stunt pilot flys a model plane around a hemisphere while performing various complicated manouvers using wires and a handle for control. I must admit that I often crash.

JUDGE: You want to be famous for flying a toy airplane in a circle?

ME: Yes, Your Honor, I do.

JUDGE: Mr. Fincher do you use Dope?

ME: Your Honor, I most certainly do, I wouldn't use anything else.!

JUDGE: Mr. Fincher what other chemicals do you use?

ME: Well, theres Nitro, Methonal, Castor and sometimes synthetics.

JUDGE: Is glue included anywhere in that list?

ME: OH YES! I must have forgotten that.

JUDGE: So, you mean to tell me that you used numerous chemicals while playing with and crashing airplanes.

ME: UM, Well kind of.

FBI Guy in the back of the Room: Your Honor, we would like to question Mr. Fincher on his use of Dope, Castor Beans, and intrest in crashing aircraft!

I think I'll keep my easy to pronounce name..
Dave Fincher

My name is Wiseman (Scottish).

everyone tends to think I am.......wise that is!!

Not really...I just work at it.

You can fool SOME of the people ALL the time, and ALL of the people SOME of the time....etc

Frank.W

Good thing Wiseman is Scotts. If you ver Chermann it vould be Visemann.ha. My wife was trying to teach me German, but I spoke it with an Italian accent. I told her I could pass for Swiss.

Ha,HAAAAA!

This reminds me of something that happened years ago. My older brother had promised to take me to the hobby shop to get some dope for the model I was working on. He had brought hi wife-to-be over and forgotten his promise. When I sarcastically asked if he was "going to take me to get my dope" his girlfriend almost died. She demanded to see my arms and hips. Siezing the moment we egged her on while I absolutely refused to let her examine me. Maybe not too funny now, but it was a HOOT at the time.

>I think I'll keep my easy
>to pronounce name..
>Dave Fincher

Shoot - you mean that's your real name? While I was reading your post (which was very clever), the whole time I was thinking the punch line would be he's changing it to Fancher!!

I once asked Al Rabe how to pronounce his name. He said "Ray-bee", as in baby. He said his name is Germanic in origin.

Nobody has trouble with my name, "Carter", except Republicans often go off on a tangent about our former president when I introduce myself.

Floyd (a democrat)

I once worked for a man named Jimmy Carter (no relation). When I interviewed with him about getting into his group I thought he was joking when he told me his name. He introduced himself by saying, "Hi, I'm Jimmy Carter."

My name is Adrian Hamilton, a fairly normal name by all accounts, except when you live near a city of Hamilton...no relation.
The matter is compounded by the fact that there is another gentleman competing in all the same C/L events that I prefer, who resides in the city of Wellington.
His name is Adrian Wellington.

This caused quite a commotion at the '92 nats presentations when he finished 2nd and I finished 1st in novice stunt. The R/C lads running the show assumed there must have been some terrible mistake or joke!

I seem to remember a famous flier in the '50's named Denny Davis.
Apropos of nothing, my middle name is Archibald, but I love my momma anyway. Until next time...

Right, so my ability to fly odd shaped loops is all my mother's fault - gee she gets blamed for a lot.
I was watching an American documentary the other day and an aussie (dat's pronounced with zz's in the middle, not ss's) came on - they put subtitles under him! Cripes, he was clearer than your average Texan. Perhaps I need to move to America. That way, if you can't understand the way I talk, you'll mispronounce my name and I'll wind up a champion.

Texan to Aussie Tourist: Gee you Aussie's speak funny.
Aussie to Texan: No mate. You blokes listen funny.
(and that's a true annecdote)

Cheers
Richard Spurling
(my Mum can pronounce it)

Don't you love these silly threads?