12.18.08
May Day
When I first saw the name Bernard Madoff (playing the Ponz in that Wall Street sitcom Unhappy Days), I read it as “Mad-off,” short A. A day or two later I heard the last name pronounced: MAY-doff. I wondered why this revelation had taken so long to reach me, because “Made-Off with my money” was a perfect pun no one had, to my knowledge, yet executed. It’s such a delicious pun that I’m certain that we’ll eventually see some bullshitternet notymology claiming that the phrase “made off” is a Bernie-inspired eponym. So if some wags have already mounted that pun, I apologize for my lack of perceptiveness. If I’ve beaten any of you to the punch, shame on your punsterish hides.
I did see an elegant literary reference to the punnish potential of the name recently, though. In his Time.com article “How I Got Screwed by Bernie Madoff,” Robert Chew writes:
Of course, we never heard the name Madoff — which has a peculiarly Dickensian ring now . . .
Poor investing, Mr. Chew, but some damn good phrasing.
Me, I’m going not for the literary but for the cheap shots. Says the Ponz,
“Made-Ay!”
, 
and 
. Feel free to 
Soupaddict Karen said,
December 18, 2008 at 2:39 pm
“Made-Ay!” You’re always good for a pun-groan….
The Ridger said,
December 18, 2008 at 9:29 pm
It’s considerably more Dickensian than Blagojevich, that’s for sure. Kathleen Parker said in the Washington Post last Wednesday:
Among his other activities, Blagojevich — whose Dickensian name rings nearly eponymous — allegedly has been busy trying to get certain members of the Tribune’s editorial board fired by threatening to withhold state assistance for the financing or sale of Wrigley Field (Tribune also owns the Chicago Cubs).
I’m REALLY not sure what she means by “rings nearly eponymous”.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/12/10/ST2008121000053.html