FG - Fred Grandy
The actor who played “Gopher” on The Love Boat later served as a five-term Republican Congressman from Iowa.
FH = Frank Herbert, author of Dune and its sequels, was raised a Catholic, but converted to Zen Buddhism late in life.
FI = Florence, Italy
Birthplace of the Italian Renaissance.
FJ = Famke Janssen, actress, probably best remembered as Jean Grey in the X-Men movies. An earlier role, coincidentally, was in the 1992* Star Trek: The Next Generation* episode “The Perfect Mate”, as empathic metamorph Kamala, opposite Patrick Stewart as Capt. Picard.
FK = Freddy Krueger, the demon sleep-murderer of “A Nightmare on Elmstreet.” The idea for Freddy was based on an actual spate of mysterious deaths in Los Angeles, wherein the victims had reported terrible nightmares to friends and family in the preceding weeks, and then died in their sleep.
:eek: :eek: :eek:
FL = Foghorn Legnorn
See FA = Fred Allen, above
FM = French’s Mustard
Brothers George and Francis French introduced their yellow mustard at the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904.
FN - Florence Nightingale, the “Lady with the Lamp”, was named after the city where she was born (Florence in Italy)
FO = Frank Oz, Muppetteer responsible for Fozzie Bear, Miss Piggy and Yoda. Also a successful director. Radio adaptations of Star Wars V & VI replaced him with John Lithgow as Yoda.
FP = Fritz Peterson
Fritz Peterson was the best pitcher the Yankees had during their forgettable doldrum years that followed their 1964 World Series loss. He is best known for the 1973 “trade” with teammate Mike Kekich, in which Peterson and Kekich traded families, swapping their wives and children for each other’s. Peterson is still married to the former Mrs. Kekich.
FQ = French Quarter
New Orleans’ oldest neighborhood. The entire district is a National Historic Landmark.
FR = Fort Royal
Fort Royal was one of three forts built by the French several decades before New Orleans was founded, to defend Placentia Bay, Newfoundland.
FS = Frank Sinatra. In 1945, Sinatra made a short film, The House I Live In, that spoke out against anti-Semitism and racial intolerance. Ironically, a decade later, its liberal slant got him tagged as a Communist sympathizer during the McCarthy trials. Sinatra never testified, but it was more fodder for his already growing FBI file.
FT = Forked Tongue
The forked tongue evolved in some reptiles, presumably to give more surface area for the reptile to detect chemicals in the environment, and it is hypothesized that it even renders directionality for the origin of sensed odors. The use of the term to indicate deceitful speech became widespread among Native Americans, but it was used for that metaphor in the early 1600s, and is found in Milton’s “Paradise Lost”.
FU = Felix Unger
Felix is the fastidious member of Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple. Art Carney originated the role on Broadway, but Tony Randall is probably the best known Felix from the TV series based on the play. The character has been played by many other well known actors including Jack Lemmon, Ron Glass and even Sally Struthers (as Florence Unger).
FV- Young Joe Pesci was a friend of Frankie Valli and the 4 Seasons. When Pesci took his Oscar winning role in “Goodfellas,” he re-named his character Tommy De Vito after one of the 4 Seasons
FV = Fatal Vision
“Fatal Vision” was a 1983 true crime book that became controversial because the author, who was hired to write a book showing innocence, determined that the suspect was guilty.
FW - F. W. Woolworth’s store. At the start of singer Nanci Griffith’s song Love at the Five and Dime, she prefaces it by saying that on her first trip to London she saw a Woolworth’s and wanted to stop. "“Woolworth’s stores smell the same all over the world – like popcorn and chewing gum rubbed around on the bottom of a leather-soled shoe.” The ping! sound in the song was inspired by the elevator at a Woolworth’s.
FX = Factor X
Factor X is part of fresh frozen plasma and the prothrombinase complex. There are two commercially available Factor X concentrates approved for use in the United States by the FDA.
FY = Fiscal Year. In the USA, that’s typically October through September.