In a sitcom or stand-up routine someone will spell their last name like: “Bakerfield: B as in Bakerfield, A as in Akerfield, K as in Kerfield, E as in Erfield, etc.” It was strange the first time I heard it and boring/unfunny all the subsequent times. Was it ever a funny thing? Is there a certain stereotype of person who’s more likely to do it?
Thank you.
Insofar as this is the first I’ve heard of it, I can confirm that it is more strange than funny on first encounter, although it was a bit amusing for the first couple letters, downhill from there. And I can similarly confirm that it’s unlikely to hit me as funny if I ever encounter it again.
I’ve never heard it before, which is always a plus for any joke.
I have also not heard this joke before and I confirm: mildly funny the first time, probably not that funny subsequent times.
Heard some gag using just the first letter, never like the OP. Doing the whole name would be tedious. The joke is over after the 2nd letter.
Family Guy did it best.
My father had a funny variant. “P as in Pneumonia.”
Like I said. Stopped watching after O.
I made up a whole phonetic alphabet for scambaiting that includes several instances like that. The rest are words that are highly unlikely any scammer will be familiar with. And every word is at least 3 syllables.
I seem to recall that I once saw that very thing only without the three syllables requirement. I’ve been unable to find it for quite a while, but I’d love to see your version.
A-Apprehensive
B-Bibliomania
C-Comprehensive
D-Disobedient
E-Eucalyptus
F-Fiduciary
G-Gymnasium
H-Hydrostatic
I-Initializations
J-Jackanapes
K-Knowledgeable
L-Loquaciously
M-Misunderstand
N-Neighborhood
O-Osteoarthritis
P-Pterodactyl
Q-Quesadilla
R-Ritz (Pronounced like this).
S-Somnolence
T-Trustworthiness
U-Unsophisticated
V-Vasoconstrictor
W-Wholesome
X-Xylophone
Y-Yeastiness
Z-Zygomorphic
Because of this:
It’s funny because the guy saying it is a complete asshole (it’s set at about five a.m. when Fields is desperate to get some sleep). Anything else is just a reference to this scene.
It’s not new. This scene from “Friends” is immediately what I thought of, from 2002:
I just remembered that about forty years ago in a bar I mentioned my friend MK. A self-absorbed guy who’d crashed our group sneered “What kind of name is that, Emmgay?”
“No, MK!” everyone said (in not-quite-unison, which meant it was barely intelligible).
“En-GAY? That’s gay.”
Silence.
So I said:
“No, no. M as in Mnemonic, K as in Knife.”
Then good ol’ Chucko said “Nnnnn nnnn…”
I knew a guy whose last name was Franklin. His schtick was to introduce himself with “That’s F as in Philadelphia, r, a, n, k, l, i, n.”
The English-language version of “Tintin” gave us “Thompson, with a P, as in ‘psychology,’” and “Thomson, without a P, as in ‘Venezuela.’”
Can you share it ?
Please !
I’ve been trying to devise an a-phonetic alphabet for years.
Post 11.
doh!
too eager!
cheers.
A as in Are
C as in Cue
E as in Eye
S as in Sea
W as in Wye
Y as in You