# MAD Memories and Useless Wisdom **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 6, 2014, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-memories-and-useless-wisdom/678040 "2014-01-06T16:05:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-memories-and-useless-wisdom/678040/41 "2014-01-07T20:36:05Z")
> [@GargoyleWB](#): > > Another Star Wars one that I still remember ([and found on the webs!](http://imgur.com/a/Up1J4)) predicts the Star Wars prequel/sequel mess with eerie accuracy 🙂 > > And I do everything with my pinkies out, the Don Martin way! Interestingly, the name they give for the Wookie homeworld in that article is almost completely accurate - they call it “Kazyyyk,” the canon name is “Kashyyyk.” That’s a pretty astonishingly minor bit of trivia, especially in 1982, when the article was written. ---
**Author:** ![cdnirish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/91b2a8/32.png) [@cdnirish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cdnirish)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-memories-and-useless-wisdom/678040/42 "2014-01-07T20:43:22Z")
I loved both MAD and Cracked. Don Martin, Sergio Aragones, and the film parodies (the way Mort Drucker drew his women helped with that too;)). Social commentary made simple and wrapped up with humour - The Daily Show and Colbert Report of it’s time (along with Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-in). ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-memories-and-useless-wisdom/678040/43 "2014-01-07T21:48:45Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Interestingly, the name they give for the Wookie homeworld in that article is almost completely accurate - they call it “Kazyyyk,” the canon name is “Kashyyyk.” That’s a pretty astonishingly minor bit of trivia, especially in 1982, when the article was written. The name might have been mentioned in the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special (1978), since a big chunk of it took place at Chewbacca’s house on the Wookiee homeworld. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-memories-and-useless-wisdom/678040/44 "2014-01-07T22:09:41Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > The name might have been mentioned in the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special (1978), since a big chunk of it took place at Chewbacca’s house on the Wookiee homeworld. Yeah, I did a little web research to figure out when the name first appeared, and it was the Star Wars Holiday Special - where it was pronounced with a “z” sound. But the writer also got that weird triple “y” correct, which I imagine would be difficult to pick up on just from hearing the word pronounced. Unless it showed up as a subtitle, or something, but even then, that’s still hella obscure - particularly given that it was 1982, and he couldn’t just look it up on Wikipedia. Guy must of been a fan, is what I’m saying. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-memories-and-useless-wisdom/678040/45 "2014-01-07T22:34:49Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Guy must of been a fan, is what I’m saying. Agreed. I’m guessing that the name might have also appeared in print at some point between '78 and '82, as well (comic books, trading cards, novels – Brian Daley’s “Han Solo” trilogy was printed in '79 and '80). ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-memories-and-useless-wisdom/678040/46 "2014-01-07T22:44:49Z")
…and Uncle Smurdley finds \*\* LIPS \*\* on his glass! ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-memories-and-useless-wisdom/678040/47 "2014-01-07T23:09:07Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Yeah, I did a little web research to figure out when the name first appeared, and it was the Star Wars Holiday Special - where it was pronounced with a “z” sound. But the writer also got that weird triple “y” correct, which I imagine would be difficult to pick up on just from hearing the word pronounced. Unless it showed up as a subtitle, or something, but even then, that’s still hella obscure - particularly given that it was 1982, and he couldn’t just look it up on Wikipedia. Or Wookieepedia. 😃 I’ll always remember [Clodumbo](http://theconsummateculp.com/2013/03/retro-hijinks-dr-robert-culpable-and-the-mad-magazine-spoof-of-columbo/), one of MAD’s TV parodies that could have been easily mistaken for a real episode. Then there was [Star Blecch](http://startrekanimated.com/mad_main.html), with art by Mort Drucker, who appears to also be channeling Don Martin. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-memories-and-useless-wisdom/678040/48 "2014-01-07T23:54:00Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Interestingly, the name they give for the Wookie homeworld in that article is almost completely accurate - they call it “Kazyyyk,” the canon name is “Kashyyyk.” That’s a pretty astonishingly minor bit of trivia, especially in 1982, when the article was written. The scariest part for me is their prediction that they would begin work on “Star Wars Saga - Part II” “sometime around the year 2014”. Sure, they got a few minor details wrong, but ‘[Star Wars: Episode VII](http://starwars.com/news/star-wars-episode-vii-to-open-december-18-2015.html)’ is scheduled for a December 18, 2015 release. I’d say that’s pretty spot on for a 32-year-old prediction 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-memories-and-useless-wisdom/678040/49 "2014-01-08T00:29:10Z")
Get me talkin’ on MAD magazine proper nouns… There was an article of obituaries for inanimate things. One example: “Five Cent Cup of Coffee - Dies after long struggle” The obit for courtesy quoted rude customers at fighting it out at a sale. First was one Kyle Wiltfang, who was being “elbowed in the pelvis” by “Wilma Wiltfang (no relation to Kyle)…” ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-memories-and-useless-wisdom/678040/50 "2014-01-08T04:59:39Z")
On the other side of the ledger, I blame Frank Jacobs for the fact that I’d been mispronouncing “quinoa” for three decades, due to its use in a fight song for the school Scrabble team (“zax and quinoa, pyx and ka” to the tune of “shake down the thunder from the sky”). Mitigated, granted, by the fact that I’d never had cause to speak the word out loud, and still have not. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-memories-and-useless-wisdom/678040/51 "2014-01-08T05:29:30Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > For no reason I can identify, I had the sudden thought, and felt obliged to see what the interwebs had to say about it. “It’s crackers to slip a rozzer the dropsy in snide” That very quote appears in “No One Here Gets Out Alive” the biography of Jim Morrison. It was apparently a smart Alec remark response by Jim to a high school teacher. I had no idea where it originated, and can’t even vouch for its veracity, but the author, Danny Sugarman, most definitely had Jim quote that in the book. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-memories-and-useless-wisdom/678040/52 "2014-01-08T05:59:01Z")
> [@AppallingGael](#): > > On the other side of the ledger, I blame Frank Jacobs for the fact that I’d been mispronouncing “quinoa” for three decades, due to its use in a fight song for the school Scrabble team (“zax and quinoa, pyx and ka” to the tune of “shake down the thunder from the sky”). Mitigated, granted, by the fact that I’d never had cause to speak the word out loud, and still have not. That was **zarf** and quinoa. Cheer, cheer for our Scrabble squad! They fill the board with words that are odd! **Adz** and **xebec,** **zax** and\*\* qua,\*\* **Zarf** and **quinoa,** **pyx,** and\*\* ka!\*\* **Zato** and **furzy,** **os,** \*\* ut,\*\* and **ugh,** **Zygote** and\*\* baba\*\*, **yoho** and **vug!** They know every word except The one that spells **victory!** FYI, a “zarf,” used in the Levant, is a holder for a handle-less coffee cup. And who can forget this vital instruction accompanying a guided missle: CAUTION: Before launching, be sure that the “pointy” part of the rocket faces “up”! ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-memories-and-useless-wisdom/678040/53 "2014-01-08T06:20:29Z")
_Bug off, ye merry gentlemen, Our Christmas you won’t mar. Without a woman giving birth, You’d have no superstar. She did it all without your help In Bethlehem back then, Which proves we don’t need you lousy men, Chauvinist men, Which proves we don’t need you lousy men._ ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2014, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-memories-and-useless-wisdom/678040/54 "2014-01-08T06:27:31Z")
**MAD** introduced a lot of us goy children into the world of Yiddish. One dictionary dates the entry of the word “klutz” into the language in the late 60s–about the time Don Martin introduced **Captain Klutz!** [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-memories-and-useless-wisdom/678040.md?page=2)