Tarzan
I was reading a CNN article about the train crash in Montenegro and read this part:"It's a disaster for Montenegro and for Bijelo Polje," said mayor Tarzan Milosevic."I am always careful to never make fun of anyone's name, but Tarzan Milosevic is very unfortunate... Anyway, I searched on behindthename and didnt find an entry for Tarzan. Does anyone have an information?
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Monkey business!Edgar Rice Burroughs explains in "Jungle Tales of Tarzan" the fictitious etymology of Tarzan, and I quote:"Tarzan is derived from the two ape words TAR and ZAN, meaning white skin. It was given him by his foster mother, Kala, the great she-ape."So Tarzan Milosevis is not only unfortunate -- it is hilarious :)
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Wonderful! And thank you.
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Kala the she-ape, eh? Well I never. One wonders where her name came from; pleasant to think that her parents, dark fur invisible in the African night, might have eavesdropped on western explorers and learnt a few European words ... but which words, from what language? What could they use to name their great she-ape baby? Dark fur, pronunciation problems ... perhaps she could be an ape of cala? Or did they have difficulty distinguishing an R from an L, and is our hero's swarthy foster-mum actually a version of Kara?
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..."Talzan vs Gozirra"???
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