# Capp's Joe Btfsplk or is it Bfstplk?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capps-joe-btfsplk-or-is-it-bfstplk/286205>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [January 23, 2005, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capps-joe-btfsplk-or-is-it-bfstplk/286205 "2005-01-23T04:43:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Hooleehootoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/eada6e/32.png) [@Hooleehootoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hooleehootoo)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capps-joe-btfsplk-or-is-it-bfstplk/286205/1 "2005-01-23T04:43:41Z")

</div>

I was doing a crossword from an old “Games” mag. (July 2001). For the clue “Dogpatch man under a cloud”, they have Joe Bfstplk. I do get several hundred hits for this spelling, but more sites (here is [one](http://www.lil-abner.com/other.html) ) have it Btfsplk.

With such obvious gibberish, I would think people would have to look it up every time, so why the popularity of the different spelling? Did Capp vary it?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capps-joe-btfsplk-or-is-it-bfstplk/286205/2 "2005-01-23T09:31:52Z")

</div>

Well there’s a [Joe Btfsplk’s Diner](http://www.wcities.com/en/record/118,204778/609/record.html) in Banff, Alberta. Looked popular, but I didn’t eat there.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capps-joe-btfsplk-or-is-it-bfstplk/286205/3 "2005-01-23T13:45:31Z")

</div>

I remember it with a T, and it wasn’t exactly “gibberish” – it was pronounced like a Bronx cheer or raspberry, hence the “BTF”

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capps-joe-btfsplk-or-is-it-bfstplk/286205/4 "2005-01-23T15:28:12Z")

</div>

> [@sturmhauke](#):
>
> Well there’s a [Joe Btfsplk’s Diner](http://www.wcities.com/en/record/118,204778/609/record.html) in Banff, Alberta. Looked popular, but I didn’t eat there.

Good food, but not good enough for the prices. I always had fantastic service there, though.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capps-joe-btfsplk-or-is-it-bfstplk/286205/5 "2005-01-23T18:57:41Z")

</div>

As of December 9, 1962, it was “Joe Btfsplk.”

That’s the sequence were he travels to deepest Brooklyn and acts as the human ashtray for Evil-Eye Fleegle, Master of the Whammy.