In most languages, Mickey Mouse is simply called “Mickey Mouse”. In some languages “mouse” is translated. But in Italian he has a completely different name: Topolino. Does anyone here know why?
I can’t speak for the translator, but at the time it was much more common to translate characters’ names than it is now. Why is Daffy Duck el pato Lucas in Spain? Most Spaniards have no idea that Piolín should have been a Piolina (because it’s female), much less that its original name is Tweety Bird, but there actually is a relationship of sorts between both names: to tweet (as in birds, not internet) = piar.
Oh, and topo is Italian for mouse, so the name is linked to his being, well, a mouse. Note that il Topo Michele has too many more syllables than Mickey Mouse for dubbing purposes: this may have been part of the reason it got changed, and back then leaving it “in English in the original” just wasn’t done.
I’m pretty sure Tweety Bird is male.
Yes, me, too. In fact, I can cite the cartoon “Bad Ol’ Putty Tat” in which Sylvester tries to lure Tweety by making his finger look like a female of Tweety’s species.
Tweety is definitely male. He was named Orson in the first cartoon, a belligerent, mean, nasty little bird. Censors complained he appeared to be naked because he was pinkand by the second cartoon they added yellow feathers and toned down his aggressive personality.
Shrug, that thing has long lashes, but maybe that’s only so it can flutter them.
Perhaps Sylvester thinks that Tweety’s a lesbian.
Pilots’ inside joke: Here’s the chart for the GPS approach to Runway 16 at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Waypoints have 5-letter names. On this approach, in order, they’re ITAWT, ITAWA, PUDYE, and TTATT. The missed-approach waypoint? IDEED.
I had read that somewhere and was dying to find a thread in GQ to post it.
Hats off.
The other thing that strikes me about that chart is Satan coming in from the top right…
You got a lot going on in New Hampshire!
Has anybody besides me ever noticed this?
I saw some really old Tweety cartoons somewhere, not too long ago, and to my surprise, the cat’s name was Thomas. It was clearly the same cat we’ve all come to know as Sylvester. Does anybody know the story behind the story here?
Since this has evolved into a purely cartoon related thread, let’s move from General Questions to Cafe Society.
samclem, Moderator
As far as I can tell, it was just an early name for him. It wouldn’t surprise me if they thought it was too obvious. I seriously doubt it was official.
It’s worth noting that the proto-Tweety was introduced two years after Tom & Jerry. Apart from being unimaginative, they may have had some trademark-ish concerns about leaving him as “Thomas.” (Not that they might have necessarily feared Hannah-Barbera coming after them, but that especially in light of another hapless feline named “Tom” in public consciousness, they may have anticipated “Thomas the Cat” being a difficult trademark to defend.)