What’s In A Name?
Ms. Publicist: Fifteenth of the month, and time for What’s In A Name, where we discuss the whys and wherefores of the names of various characters in the Chet and Bernie mysteries. Today – how about Iko, the name of a rather menacing character from the forthcoming novel The Sound and the Furry?
Spencer Quinn: Since most of the story takes place in New Orleans and bayou country, the music of Louisiana was in my mind the whole time I was writing. And everybody knows the old Mardi Gras song, Iko Iko.
Ms. P.: Which is all about revelry.
SQ: Yes.
Ms. P: While the character Iko is not about revelry.
SQ: Very much not. But I think the word Iko derives from ecoute, the French for listen, or listen up, pay attention, and when the character Iko’s on the scene, Chet learns you really do have to pay attention.
Ms. P: Or else. Thanks, Spence. The Sound and the Furry comes out Sept. 10.
Welcome Sidney.
Tags: Iko, Mardi Gras, New Orleans, The Sound and the Furry, What's In A Name
This entry was posted on Monday, June 17th, 2013 at 7:14 am and is filed under Chet The Dog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
7:30 am on June 17th, 2013
Gooood morning, everyone! Today’s post is like Deja vu…all over again (Sat @ 1:12p, Facebookie), but then, who will notice?
Hope Dawson’s infestation of vampire bats will resolve itself shortly. Sammie, the HOH has some “explosions” too. Bet the newf pack does and maybe maggiepie. Somebody needs to learn to spin “chiengora”. (Yeah, someone with too mush time on their paws!)
8:19 am on June 17th, 2013
Good Morning Herd of Hounds,
Explosions happen at least two times (per dog) a year. Mac is the best. He will look like a normal part of the Nation Within, then, Boom! He’s a wooly bear, or yak or muskox.
Need to get up. Still in recovery mode. YSAS needs to go to the train station today.
8:22 am on June 17th, 2013
Good morning! HOH stole our line, but it’s appropriate to repeat it. heh heh
Deja vu all over again!
8:37 am on June 17th, 2013
Good morning. Barb thinks Sept. 10th is a great day for publication. Makes a nice birthday present for herself on the 12th. Signed copy, of course.
8:51 am on June 17th, 2013
Whoo hoo, 40% chance of thunderstorms today and BOOMERS just began :/ Mom is glad we all are big girls and not afraid. She used to have to hold 1st newf and pit 🙁 (a lapfull). Barb, yes, a gooood day for a b-day.
8:55 am on June 17th, 2013
Good Morning All!
Belle Starr: I read your post this morning. I think your two-legged is right. If you are exploding and your lovely fur is all over the place, your kitty and moose might be ‘lergic, just like Grizz is ‘lergic to me.
8:57 am on June 17th, 2013
Belle Starr: Try the baby muskox first……
9:09 am on June 17th, 2013
Oooops, we almost forgot…have a Marvellous Monday!
9:59 am on June 17th, 2013
An interesting name.
Good morning all.
10:06 am on June 17th, 2013
The third season of The Killing takes place in Vancouver, Canada.
10:13 am on June 17th, 2013
Mama laughed at the “explosions”. We go thru two a year too, only around here is is called “cotton ball time”. Mama will brush and brush and brush us, then we walk across the floor and you can actually watch our white undercoat work it’s way to the surface in clumps like little cotton balls. And then we leave those all over the house.
We think the decorating we do is lovely
10:20 am on June 17th, 2013
T&G: You do everything with such grace and dignity. : )
10:22 am on June 17th, 2013
Good morning on marvelous Monday.
Ecoute!
My French teacher would say that but I didn’t. I was a poor student. I have learned a few things since then. I will listen when Iko speaks in the next C&B book.
Ugh!
Garlic breath and Newf drool kept the bats away last night. I have to wash the sheets and air out the mattress.
HOH: I hope you’re feeling mostly tip-top today. With the yard work done and thunderstorms threatening you have perfect excuses to take it easy today.
10:24 am on June 17th, 2013
Rose – thank you, but only one if us does things with grace and dignity. Gilly does things with….well, let us call it with “enthusiasm”.
10:29 am on June 17th, 2013
Yes T&G, you are the royals. Around here mom says we have long-haired, invisible, feral chihuahuas!
10:44 am on June 17th, 2013
We are in full explosion mode at the present. Mom uses her “tools” on us outside. Visitors are all sure that we have several sheep who just got sheared.
Birds are happy with us though, as they use that stuff in their nests.
11:08 am on June 17th, 2013
Old-News!….grump!
11:13 am on June 17th, 2013
I have never heard of the song Iko Iko.
Iko might make a good name for a dog like an Akita.
I did my explosion about 3 months ago. Mom, also, always brushes me outdoors even in Jan.
Good Morning All
11:41 am on June 17th, 2013
They showed a grooming tool on tv this morning called a furmanator. Looks like it works well. Does anyone have experience with one?
I usually explode twice a year. Lots of baby fine undercoat that floats around everywhere.
Oleys, How are the baby chicks? Any new pics you can share?
11:44 am on June 17th, 2013
Mom really chuckles after she sweeps up all our invisible, long-haired, feral chihuahuas, puts them into the trash, turns around and finds 3 more sneaking up on her.
11:46 am on June 17th, 2013
B&M: Have a furminator. Works great on husky type & length hair. Does not work well on long or double coats 🙁
11:54 am on June 17th, 2013
Barb, The magazine, Dog Fancy, made it their product of the year a few years ago.
Mom ordered one from Amazon which had the lowest price and it was the name brand Furminator. It did not work on me so mom passed it onto my two best dog park friends, two Siber girls, and it did not work on them either. We know it is suppose to work good on Huskies but it did not for us three Sibers.
12:13 pm on June 17th, 2013
Just call Jacqueline’s Dog Salon and she will have you hairless in minutes.
12:26 pm on June 17th, 2013
The Furminator was being used on a Lab this morning, who was shedding out his winter coat. It seemed to work well on him. I have a long, coarse top coat and a soft, fine undercoat, so probably would not be a good choice here.
Hot here but a lovely day.
12:31 pm on June 17th, 2013
Siber – besst introduction to Iko Iko would be the Grateful Dead –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oaUBKWx3BY
12:49 pm on June 17th, 2013
Thanks Terry, I like it. It rocks
12:51 pm on June 17th, 2013
Terry, thank you for the intro. Always amazes us the depth of Plunderer knowledge. If one doesn’t have info, the next one does!
3:03 pm on June 17th, 2013
Terry, thanks for that link. We never heard Iko Iko either. We like it and now will know how to pronounce it correctly when we read TSATF,
Mom has many different shedding tools. The one she uses now is the Furminator. It works well on pulling out our heavy winter undercoat. You have to buy the Giant Long Hair one. The regular one is for short hair.
3:12 pm on June 17th, 2013
OH and B&M and Sibers…the whole brushing issue is like people, we think. Mom got the Furminator,like we said. Worked great on 3 girls from before our time: wolf/husky, husky shepherd and husky. She uses a “rake” on the Newfs (past & present), a people’s hair pick on Pookey (Aussie & chow) who has a double coat and an aluminum rat tail comb from the 60’s for the labradoodle’ curly but not frizzy hair. Emma the boxer,we just turn the brush over to the back and pretend (whispering) shh…she doesn’t know.
3:40 pm on June 17th, 2013
We don’t usually do “commercials” but Mama did get a product from Amazon that she is thrilled with. It is an undercoat rake that actually WORKS, and that Tupper will stand still for – she usually HATES being brushed.
It is called the GripSoft undercoat rake and the logo on top is JW. The handle is contoured and padded, and the teeth of the rake are tapered to a ball point, instead of a sharp point.
Mama got it because she was reading the reviews on Amazon, and a bunch of Corgi people were extolling the virtues of this rake over so many others. And it was inexpensive – we think about $6. She only got it to fill out her $25.00 for free shipping purchase, but now she is just thrilled that she found it. Personally, we think she has given up on the idea of adopting another rescue Corgi, and has just decided to build one of her own from all the hair she is raking out of us.
4:02 pm on June 17th, 2013
Last night I tried a new wine–new to me. It’s a Merlot from the Columbia Valley and is called 14 Hands. The label has horses’ heads and says that they represent the wild horses that once roamed the valley. “These horses, measuring a mere 14 hands tall, were renowned for their strength, endurance and tenacity.” Interesting…and the wine was good also.
4:05 pm on June 17th, 2013
If Belle Starr wants a baby musk ox all she needs to do is look in the mirror. She is such a rag muffin no matter how muh we brush her.
4:08 pm on June 17th, 2013
T&G: Mmmmm, worry when your mama calls it a “build a better dog kit”.
B: Love to hear about wines as mom loves to gift them.
4:34 pm on June 17th, 2013
We here would gladly do commercials for the Furminator. You can brush Belle for hours and still she provides “caterpillars”. That is what dad calls it when you clean out the furminator with two fingers and all the hair sticks together in a line. They do look like caterpillars. She provides giant blond ones, Annie lovely red ones, and even I, who really do not shed, can get a few coaxed out of me as well. Plus, it really feels good and we line up for our turn.
4:59 pm on June 17th, 2013
WHOA! NEARLY HIT THAT ONE . . SORRY ABOUT THE SCREAMING. NOT SURE YOU CAN HEAR ME OVER THE STORM . . JEEZE LOUISE, THAT LIGHTNING WAS CLOSE.
YSAS IS ON HIS WAY TO NYC. WAIT, I NEED TO DODGE THAT BRANCH . .
HE’S NOT GETTING ANY STORMS.
OUR FURMINATOR IS CALLED SANDY. SHE IS GREAT! LOVES THE NEWF PACK . .
BETTER GET OFF THE WEB AND PAY ATTENTION.
5:10 pm on June 17th, 2013
Gah. Haven’t been able to get online.
Mom had a “dental appointment” on Friday and spent the weekend recuperating.
Now I’m posting from siber-space with no clue as to what’s been happening on the blog.
Hoping to be back tomorrow.
^..^
5:43 pm on June 17th, 2013
Sharon: The 14 Hands would make a nice gift.
5:58 pm on June 17th, 2013
Bee! Mom picked up 14 Hands the last time she went to the State Store, and they drank it with their London Broil last week. She usually only likes French or Spanish wines, but for some reason she also likes every wine she has ever hadfrom the Columbia Valley. Of course, the name and the label of this one didn’t hurt either. But we think the one she had was a Pinot Noir. Now you got us wondering…may have to dig in the recycles for the bottle.
6:01 pm on June 17th, 2013
No no…now it’scoming back. It was 14 Hands Hot to Trot (of course). It is a blend…merlot, sauvignon, and syrah.
She said the name reminded her of Annie!
6:07 pm on June 17th, 2013
Howlers: I thought of you when I saw the label.
6:09 pm on June 17th, 2013
Bee, do you mean the horses or the “hot to trot” part? 🙂
6:21 pm on June 17th, 2013
Melanie: Quick! Hide your head under the bed so the lightening can’t get you. Works every time.
6:37 pm on June 17th, 2013
B and OH: Mom has a s-i-l from WA state so she likes springing things like that on him. Always keep him guessing!
6:47 pm on June 17th, 2013
Wow! Mom said very little chance of storms today but had morning and 6:30 Boomer storms with rain. Nothing like damp dawgs.
7:06 pm on June 17th, 2013
Melanie: That storm’ll get the starch out of your hair.
Terry: Dad went down for a nap and I cranked the Grateful Dead! 🙂
7:48 pm on June 17th, 2013
Day!…Someone is finally home…snort!….She threw a pot of her green chili together to brew and now we are downstairs watching the Rockies at Toronto…sniff!…How bad is Toronto these days???…hmmmmm.
7:49 pm on June 17th, 2013
Sox!…I think we play the Red Sox on this East Coast tour, but I will have to check the schedule to be sure….grunt!…I know they play Wookie’s team again…heh!…A chance to redeem themselves…sniff!
7:59 pm on June 17th, 2013
Mr.Staff is getting ready to watch Hockey again. They have certainly been couch cushion biting games. He told me that it is on NBCS (S for sports) here. On Dish it is 220. I know Dawson has Dish. I hope Mollypop’s Mom can get it too.
We had a nice steady 20 minute rain here about 5:00. We watered today, that is why. Every time we water or it rains the onions grow about 3 inches. They just love being in a raised bed. I am going to start using them because they are going to overwhelm me otherwise. I only bought about 40 but they are all doing fine. I will always use onion sets from now on. I am impressed!
7:59 pm on June 17th, 2013
KirbyT is up top for me. I miss my pal. He was a bit of a night owl which worked out nicely for AK time.
8:02 pm on June 17th, 2013
Rio, Have your friend check your SDD please.
8:02 pm on June 17th, 2013
Onions!….40 onion plants? Holy bad breath! Your post is making my pug eyes water just reading it….snort!…How many onions do you guys go through in a week anyways???….sniff!
8:10 pm on June 17th, 2013
Belle Starr: Ragamuffin, indeed! You are my beautiful , most special, very best friend.
8:10 pm on June 17th, 2013
Staff!…I got it and I get it…snort!
8:14 pm on June 17th, 2013
RIO! Does your friend use the chillis from her very own garden?
8:18 pm on June 17th, 2013
Masquers: I suspect that you blurred over here on Friday, after I went to bed.
Grizz told me how much fun he had jammin’ and playing cool, smooth jazz. I noticed there was a bunch of confetti on the floor. I thought I saw kool Kat prints in the rug.
8:18 pm on June 17th, 2013
Mom misses being a night owl. Was for MANY years, now nighty night @ 9:30, up @ 6:45. There must be help for her.
8:20 pm on June 17th, 2013
Wose: I have yet to see a muffin all day. Rag, blueberry, banana nut—I don’t care. I’m getting hungry.
8:22 pm on June 17th, 2013
Dawson, sorry about the sheets and the smell, but you didn’t have any bats did you . .
The drive back from the train station was “interesting”. Sorry I was yelling, but it was very loud.
Terry, Hey now, Hey now !!
I am getting sleepy. Hope it works tonight and that I sleep through the night.
Zoë had a great day this morning. She took the dogs out, and worked in the yard.
I’m missing YSAS, but he was missing a certain LLL.
8:24 pm on June 17th, 2013
Rio, The Canadian Birds are at the bottom of the East Division. This season where a team is in the standings does not seem to make much of a difference as to whether or not the Rockies win or lose.
8:36 pm on June 17th, 2013
Belle Starr: I am worrit. Make sure you get some muffin.
8:38 pm on June 17th, 2013
Since the topic today was “What’s In a Name”, I am wondering how some of youse guys got your names…..
8:44 pm on June 17th, 2013
Wose, I had the name Caleb when mom adopted me from Husky Rescue.
She didn’t change it.
8:52 pm on June 17th, 2013
Caleb!…That’s not a Siber name…sniff!…SiberH is a Siber name…sneeze!
8:54 pm on June 17th, 2013
Rose!…Yes, she has been using the green chilis they grew last summer in her chili making…sniff!…Smells very hot in here tonight. It is very hot in here cause her mother has the air-conditioner set for 76. But the air does not really turn on till it hits 78….gasp!growl!
8:58 pm on June 17th, 2013
Game!….Wow. We came down to cool off and watch the game, it is already top of the 8th inning and they have been playing for less than 2 hours…gasp!….Still scoreless….gasp!again!
9:07 pm on June 17th, 2013
Rio, Mom and I agree. We like Siber-H best.
9:16 pm on June 17th, 2013
Mat!…Belisle is pitching for the Rockies now…sniff!…My friend is still telling me how good looking he is in person….guffle!
9:17 pm on June 17th, 2013
I had the name Damon at my previous home. The shelter knew my name and gave it to Mom. Mom said that sounds like the dude from The Omen. She had to find me a Siberian name that sounded similar, so I would know it was my furever name. So she gave me the name Dima, which is the Russian nickname for Dmitri. I love my name.
9:18 pm on June 17th, 2013
Gah!…Suddenly (Mat!) there is a Blue Jay on second base getting ready to score….grump!
9:33 pm on June 17th, 2013
Names don’t matter much. It is puppy names. what do you think?
9:36 pm on June 17th, 2013
Offense!…Our offense did not show up for the game tonight…grump!spit!…
9:38 pm on June 17th, 2013
Those dirty birds may be bad, but they kicked some serious Ranger buttay in the last week. It has gotten so bad here that people are entering the stadium wearing their rally caps.
We went to the Bark Park and then to get snow balls. Not a bad evening.
9:45 pm on June 17th, 2013
Bat!….I think I found an emoticon for Dawson…sniff!…Now sure this will show up right. Paws crossed…heh!
9:54 pm on June 17th, 2013
Staff, We here only use onion sets. We buy them in a bag of 100. We use most as green onions and let a few go for dried onions. The bag is $1.99 for 100 sets.
Barb feels so bad. There was a female Cardinal that was scolding her in the yard today. Barb thought it was because she was near her nest. Then she saw her mate lying dead in the neighbor’s yard. They co-parent, so we don’t know what will happen to their babies. She is now a single mom. Sob.
9:55 pm on June 17th, 2013
wowser1 can you believe this….
10:16 pm on June 17th, 2013
MagPie, tell Barb we have a similar sitation here, but it is the male that is left. Do birds believe in blind dates?
Rose, since I have already been through The Pack names, I will tell you about mine.
My middle name is my Grandmother’s first name. My first name is from a fictional character in a book; “Gone With The Wind”. A friend of my parents loved the name, and they thought it went well with my middle and last name.
I did NOT turn out like that Melanie AT ALL!
TTFN
10:40 pm on June 17th, 2013
I was named Nancy because my fathers loved the name Nan. Evidently when he was very very young he had a girlfriend with that name. I didn’t learn there was another Nancy Drew until I was in 4th grade. We moved from Harbor Beach, Michigan to Hopewell, VA and when I was introduced to the class all the little girls gasped out loud. ????? I had never heard of the ‘other’ Nancy Drew.
I admit to having read a few since but I was always ‘into’ the horse books. My parents never got me a horse though. Just more and more little brothers and sisters. YUCK!
10:41 pm on June 17th, 2013
Rose. Wookie was his third name and the name he had when we adopted him. Before that he had been known as Caesar and Twister. Wookie suited him very well for obvious reasons and he also made the Chewbacca sound that Wookiees make.
10:48 pm on June 17th, 2013
Barb and Maggie, From what I have seen of birds that Cardinal Mom will do her best to raise the kids. Try leaving out food for her. Mealworms, raisins, grapes, peanuts, sunflowers and safflower seeds are popular with Cardinals. Also make sure there is a good clean source of water.
Here is a useful link:
http://diet.yukozimo.com/what-do-cardinals-eat/
10:52 pm on June 17th, 2013
Name!…grunt!…Seems like I told this story before about a million times…sniff!…Someone was watching TV and a travel commercial came on for Rio De Janeiro and she had a little me to name…sniff!…She thought that maybe Rio was simple enough that even a Pug could learn it…grunt!
10:53 pm on June 17th, 2013
Melanie: No bats last night. No bats tonight except that sad looking one Rio supplied.
Staff: Channel 220 is the selling channel. Juicers. I broke down and ordered Channel 159 for the exorbitant going price. Neither Mollypop’s Mom nor the man up North will be happy with the outcome of tonight’s game.
10:56 pm on June 17th, 2013
Wait!….My name post did not come out exactly as I had planned it…grunt!
Sad!…Bat emoticon…heh!…That’s the only one I could find and I think he is adequate…huffle!
11:06 pm on June 17th, 2013
I like the bat.
night all
12:16 am on June 18th, 2013
Our Lady says we fit out names like a stolen glove. No idea why. We do know that someone wrote a country song about us.
1:26 am on June 18th, 2013
Wose: I was named after a very special somebody. It is also believed to be a traditional Puggish name. It is also a family name from my pug side.