Fresh Corpses
Brand Etymology
Potpourri
A Bit Off:
Animals
Animals
A Bit Off:
Literature
Literature
A Bit Off: Movies
400
[Name], the talk- and game-show host who regaled America over morning coffee with Kathie Lee Gifford and Kelly Ripa for decades, and who made television history in 1999 by introducing the runaway hit "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," died on [July 24]. He was 88.
Regis Philbin
400
Automobiles: German for "People's Car."
Volkswagen
400
General and eventual Commander, Confederates.
Robert E. Lee
400
General term for a feral pig; if it was wearied by dullness.
Drop 1 and add 2.
Wild Bored (Boar)
400
Dostoevsky's 1866 novel chronicling the moral dilemmas of Rodion Raskolnikov; if it was made into a TV show by the producers of Nickelodeon.
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Slime (Crime) and Punishment
400
2006 movie based on a book by Dan Brown; if it was about a common whitefish.
Remove 1.
The Da Vinci Cod (Code)
800
[Name], whose honeyed delivery and low-key but erudite manner helped make him a familiar face and voice on television for half a century, and whose career included long stints as host of both "Today" on NBC and "20/20" on ABC, died on [July 1] at his home in Scottsdale, AZ. He was 99.
Hugh Downs
800
Toys: Abbreviation of the Danish words "leg godt," meaning "play well."
LEGO
800
Major General, Union. Led the March to the Sea.
William Tecumseh Sherman
800
A large arctic member of the genus Ursus; if it had only grinding back teeth.
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Molar (Polar) Bear
800
Novel by Ayn Rand; if the god tasked with holding up the world was held up at gunpoint.
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Atlas Mugged (Shrugged)
800
1999 Bond film, the third to star Pierce Brosnan (also the Bond family motto translated from Latin to English); if it was renamed by someone jealous of biblical Cain's first son.
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The World is Not Enoch (Enough)
1200
[Name] a portly actor with a walrus mustache who found his niche playing cantankerous coots in "Absence of Malice," "The Natural," "Cocoon" and other films, died on [August 1] in a hospital in St. George, Utah. He was 85.
Wilford Brimley
"Diabeetus!"
1200
Furniture/Home Goods: Composite of the initials of the Swedish founder's name plus first letters of the names of the property and village in which he grew up.
IKEA (Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd)
1200
Major General, Union. Gave Lincoln fits because he wouldn't attack.
George McClellan
1200
1957 travel novel by Jack Keroac; if it was about placing an object atop an amphibian.
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On the Toad (Road)
1200
Science fiction author known for books such as Ender's Game; if Dr. Who crawled inside him to travel.
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Orson Scott TARDIS (Card)
1200
2001 Japanese film that won Best Animated Feature at the 75th Academy Awards; if it was about fervent associates working for a multi-level marketing company selling health and beauty products.
Add 1.
Spirited Amway (Away)
1600
[Name], the singer, songwriter and bandleader who was a force in both country and rock for decades, bringing a brash, down-home persona and blazing fiddle work to hits like "The Devil Went Down to Georgia," died on [July 6] in Nashville. He was 83.
Charlie Daniels
1600
Technology/Document Management: Derived from the Greek words for "dry writing."
Xerox (Xerography = xero- "dry" + -graphos "to write")
1600
Major General, Union. Suffered defeats at Fredericksburg and the Crater.
Ambrose Burnside
1600
Nature documentary featuring the social interactions of a kind of African mongoose; as interpreted by a French modernist painter.
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Meerkat Manet (Manor)
1600
Author of Portnoy's Complaint; if he wore black clothes and sat in his room brooding and listening to KMFDM all day.
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Philip Goth (Roth)
1600
1991 movie about criminal surfers directed by Kathryn Bigelow and starring Keanu Reeves; if the plot revolved around a stoner who kept damaging his marijuana cigarettes.
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Joint (Point) Break
2000
[Name], the Emmy Award-nominated comic actor best known for his scene-stealing roles in Christopher Guest’s improvised ensemble film comedies like "Best in Show" and "Waiting for Guffman" and on sitcoms like "Modern Family" and "Everybody Loves Raymond," died on [May 15] at his home in Los Angeles. He was 86.
Fred Willard
2000
Restaurants: Enunciation of the initials of its founders, the Raffel brothers, Leroy and Forrest. (Not the enunciation of the first letters in the most common food item sold there, as some mistakenly believe.)
Arby's (R-B's)
2000
Lt. General, Confederates. Later the first Grand Wizard of the KKK.
Nathan Bedford Forrest
2000
British secret agent cartoon rodent with an eye patch who lives in a postbox; if he was a wingless parasitic insect.
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Danger Louse (Mouse)
2000
1953 existentialist Samuel Beckett play; if it was about the anticipation regarding the release of Tonka's ripoff version of Transformers.
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Waiting for Gobot (Godot)
2000
1994 animated Disney movie that won Oscars for Best Original Song and Best Original Score, later made into a Broadway musical; if it was about a type of misfolded protein that causes maladies such as chronic wasting disease in deer and mad cow disease in cattle.
Replace 1 with 2.
The Prion (Lion) King