# Where's Wally/Waldo? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 31, 2003, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-wally-waldo/178757 "2003-05-31T11:17:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tuco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tuco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuco)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2003, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-wally-waldo/178757/1 "2003-05-31T11:17:45Z")
Does anyone know why Where’s Wally is called Where’s Waldo in the US? Which was first and why was it changed to suit the other market? Is Wally a derogatory term or insult in the States? TIA ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2003, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-wally-waldo/178757/2 "2003-05-31T11:35:18Z")
[He has different](http://216.239.41.100/search?q=cache:Ee3j6-EJR5oJ:www.edupaperback.org/pastbios/Handford.html+%22Martin+Handford%22+Waldo+history&hl=en&lr=lang_en&ie=UTF-8) names everywhere. What do they call his nemesis in England? Here he’s Odlaw which is Waldo backwards. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2003, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-wally-waldo/178757/3 "2003-05-31T11:48:53Z")
Waldo is funnier. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2003, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-wally-waldo/178757/4 "2003-05-31T12:12:25Z")
June 25, 1987 is when he first appeared in England. I can’t find when it appeared in the USA but it was sometime between then and the end of the year. Is Wally a stereotypical nerd name in England? It is in the US, that could be why they chose thatname here. There’s nothing wrong with Wally at all. Nor were their any famous Wallys around at the time which might have made them shy away from it. At least none that I can remember. I see that CBS (in the US) made a cartoon about it “Where’s Waldo” but it seems as though they redubbed it for England and New Zealand and called it “Where’s Wally.” There’s supposed to be a movie out next year called “Where’s Waldo.” It’s supposed to be like “Where’s Waldo in Time” and is about to be made by Nickelodeon. I assume it will be animated and redubbed to make him Wally for the overseas English speaking crowd. Boy I bet he wishes he could go back and give them the same name now. ---
**Author:** ![refusal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@refusal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/refusal)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2003, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-wally-waldo/178757/5 "2003-05-31T12:20:13Z")
Wally is a mild term for someone who’s a bit of an idiot in Britain (often applied to train-spotters and harmless people who’re somewhat simple). It’s probably found more in Scotland and the North of England than elsewhere. It is a bit old-fashioned but was well-known enough a word to inspire a 1970s book called “How to be a wally” and a series of 1980s video games starring a character called “Wally Week”, which included “Everyone’s a wally” and “Pyjamarama”. For more wally-information go [here](http://www.earthlydelights.co.uk/netnews/wally.html). ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2003, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-wally-waldo/178757/6 "2003-05-31T19:59:21Z")
What I’ve always wondered is why Wally/Waldo dresses like Elton John in _Tommy_. The artist couldn’t have come up with that same outfit through sheer coincidence, could he?