Why was Scooby Doo named “Scooby Doo”?
Was it originally the name of an animator’s childhood pet, a doo-wop allusion, an off-color inside joke, pure invention, what?
Apparently it’s because Fred Silverman, the head of Children’s Programming for CBS at that time, was a Frank Sinatra fan.
Er, checked the link again and Silverman was head of Daytime Programming, not Children’s - sorry for the slip.
I hate to nitpick off the topic, but if I recall properly, the phrase “wherefore art thou” actually means “why are you…” In other words, Juliet was asking why the hell Romeo couldn’t be someone else that her family wasn’t actively trying to kill.
Of course, having grown up and re-watched some old Scooby-Doo cartoons on Cartoon Network, I do often find myself asking “why?”
Wow, that was fast. Cool … thanks!
IIRC, the quote from Shakespeare goes something like this:
O Scooby, Oh Scooby
Wherefore art thou Scooby?
Deny Shaggy and refuse thy name.
*I hate to nitpick off the topic, but if I recall properly, the phrase “wherefore art thou” actually means “why are you…” *
I like to pick nits as much as anyone, but I’m not sure of the point of this particular nitpick(ing). Wasn’t the original question indeed why is he called Scooby-Doo?
RR
I thought the subject was a clever pun on the name of the show, Scooby-Doo, Where are you?
I was nitpicking the title, and I did say it was off-topic.
Off to Cafe Society.
bibliophage
moderator GQ
I thought the name was appropiate. Not only is “Scooby-Doo, wherefore art thou?” a funny play on “Scooby-Doo, where are you?,” It is also a fancy way of saying, “Scooby-Doo, why were you named that in the first place?”
I was afraid, upon seeing the title, that “wherefore” would be misused, but pleasently surprised on reading the OP, since the word is, in fact, used correctly. It’s especially appropriate given that Juliet’s musings are specifically on why Romeo must bear the name that he does.
That’ll teach me to scan over an OP instead of reading it carefully just in case there’s a clever, subtle Shakespearian pun in there that’ll make me look like an ass for missing it…
OK, so “Wherefore art thou” has a double meaning that completely whooshed over my head. Chronos, Mobo85, thanks for pointing it out.
It’s NOT a double-meaning – that is what it means.
–Cliffy
By “double meaning” I was referring to the common mis-assumption that “wherefore” means “where”, as it was cleverly used in the title. Upon re-reading the OP, I realized that Pochacco was using it as “why” which is the correct meaning.
IN SUMMARY: I get it now. It was very clever. Let it rest.