Arnold Zwicky's Blog

On February 24th, in the posting “Computer annals: Reyes Korzybski and the avalanche of spam”, I confronted thousands of spam comments a day from a single site, which used some huge database of names to concoct senders’ names on the spam. That posting was about the name Reyes Korzybski.

The avalanche of comments spam vanished not long after this, so for a period the flow of comments spam dropped to its customary hundreds a day. But then a few days ago a fresh spate began, bringing me (among thousands of others) the name Zane Grills.

Which suggested Zane Grey and grills of various kinds and led me to playful POPs (phrasal overlap portmanteaus) of a specialized sort: name chains (posting here). So I descended to the silliness of the Grey brothers: Billy Zane Grey, Billy Joel Grey, and Fletcher Christian Grey.

Grilling: Zane’s grills in Hermosa Beach CA. From the Truly Hermosa site on Zane’s Restaurant:

(#1)

Zane’s offers a sophisticated menu and premium cocktails unique to downtown Hermosa Beach. Signature appetizers, entrees and desserts are prepared fresh, daily and served to guests in a stylish, comfortable atmosphere. Slate flooring, mahogany wood tones and chocolate walls frame and showcase the restaurant’s sleek full bar.

From Zane’s grills: grilled steaks, salmon, and vegetables (artichoke and asparagus).

Grilling: Zesty Zane grills. Meanwhile, in the high-goofy neighborhood of YouTube, Zesty Zane grills up some Australian hot pockets:

(#2)

You can make hot pockets at home. Or you can get the commercial product. From Wikipedia:

(#3)

Hot Pockets is an American brand of microwaveable turnovers and pocket sandwiches generally containing one or more types of cheese, meat, or vegetables. Hot Pockets was founded by the Chef America Inc. company. Since April 20, 2002, they have been produced by Nestlé.

There are more than 40 varieties of the traditional Hot Pocket, including breakfast, lunch, and dinner varieties. Nestlé also offers Lean Pockets, Pretzel Bread Hot Pockets, Hot Pockets Croissant Crust (formerly called Croissant Pockets), Hot Pockets Breakfast items, Hot Pockets Breakfast/Snack Bites, and Hot Pockets Sideshots. Nestlé formerly produced Hot Pie Express, Hot Pocket Pizza Minis (originally called Hot Pockets Pizza Snacks), Hot Pockets Subs, Hot Pockets Calzones, Hot Pockets Panini, and Hot Pockets Breakfast fruit pastries. Hot Pockets are [advertised] as “an after school staple”.

Zane Grey. From Wikipedia:

(#4)

Pearl Zane Grey (January 31, 1872 – October 23, 1939) was an American author and dentist best known for his popular adventure novels and stories associated with the Western genre in literature and the arts; he idealized the American frontier. Riders of the Purple Sage (1912) was his best-selling book. In addition to the commercial success of his printed works, they had second lives and continuing influence when adapted as films and television productions. His novels and short stories have been adapted into 112 films, two television episodes, and a television series, Dick Powell’s Zane Grey Theater.

Billy Zane Grey: the Phantom Rider of the Purple Sage. That’s what you get when you cross Zane Grey with Billy Zane. See my 3/30/17 posting “Billy Zane” about the actor, including his playing the comic-book hero the Phantom on film.

Billy Joel Grey: the Piano Master of Ceremonies. Well, they both sing.

On Billy Joel, from Wikipedia:

(#5) Billy Joel, the Piano Man

William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. He was born in the Bronx, New York, and was raised on Long Island, New York, places which have a heavy influence on his songs. Since releasing his first hit song, “Piano Man”, in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States.

And on Joel Grey, from Wikipedia:

(#6) Joel Grey, the Master of Ceremonies

Joel Grey (born Joel David Katz; April 11, 1932) is an American actor, singer, dancer, and photographer. He is best known for portraying the Master of Ceremonies in both the stage and film versions of the Kander & Ebb musical Cabaret.

He also originated the role of George M. Cohan in the musical George M! in 1968, and the Wizard of Oz in the musical Wicked.

Fletcher Christian Grey: the Mutinous Master. Finally, and most preposterously, Fletcher Christian joins with Christian Grey.

My 7/12/15 posting “Fletcher and a trail of associations” has a section on Fletcher Christian, the leader of the mutiny on HMS Bounty — a real 18th-century Englishman, known to modern people largely through his appearance as a character in movies about the mutiny.

Christian Grey is entirely a fictional character. From Wikipedia:

(#7) Annals of shirtlessness and pouchedness: Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey in the film of Fifty Shades of Grey

Fifty Shades of Grey is a 2011 erotic romance novel by British author E. L. James, originally a Twilight fan fiction with Christian Grey as a non-vampire Edward Cullen and Anastasia Steele as a wan, gamine Bella Swan. It is the first instalment in the Fifty Shades trilogy that traces the deepening relationship between a college graduate, Anastasia Steele, and a young business magnate, Christian Grey. It is notable for its explicitly erotic scenes featuring elements of sexual practices involving bondage/discipline, dominance/submission, and sadism/masochism (BDSM).

This entry was posted on March 13, 2018 at 5:08 am and is filed under Language and food, Movies and tv, Music, Names, Phrasal overlap portmanteaus, Shirtlessness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.