Coolest Characters Names

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Travisbickle
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Re: Coolest Characters Names

Post by Travisbickle »

Without a doubt...
Keyser Söze

Jerky
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Re: Coolest Characters Names

Post by Jerky »

Did anyone say Muffy St. John from April Fool's Day (1986)? I'll never forget that name for as long as I live.

coffee
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Re: Coolest Characters Names

Post by coffee »

Keyser Soze is a terrible character name.

Imdb states that "Writer Christopher McQuarrie chose the name Keyser Soze from an English-to-Turkish dictionary."

But that's impossible. Keyser is not a Turkish word and neither is Soze. You can look all you want.

It was also said that "Keyser Soze is said to have a Turkish mother and a German father. According to Singer, in a mix of German and Turkish, "Keyser Soze" can be roughly translated as "King Blabbermouth."

I do not speak German nor I want to but Soze does not mean Blabbermouth. It means nothing.

The only Turkish thing about the character is how he smokes. And I'm sure many people from other countries hold the cigarette the same, once in a while.

I know that this post is unnecessarily long...
But Keyser Soze is a meaningless sh.t. Maybe Keyser means something, I do not care... But Soze is definitely not the Turkish word for blabbermouth.

We call them "geveze". (Our language is really hard and weird for English speaking people, do not try to learn... really.) Keyser Geveze would've given away important stuff early in the film but when I first watched the film and heard the name "Keyser Soze", it did not ring any bells. Because it means nothing.

iconogassed
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Re: Coolest Characters Names

Post by iconogassed »

What's Turkish for "u mad bro?"

coffee
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Re: Coolest Characters Names

Post by coffee »

We (people like me) prefer to call ourselves passionate. It sounds better. :D

CosmicMonkey
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Re: Coolest Characters Names

Post by CosmicMonkey »

coffee wrote:
Wed May 13, 2020 1:22 am
Keyser Soze is a terrible character name.

Imdb states that "Writer Christopher McQuarrie chose the name Keyser Soze from an English-to-Turkish dictionary."

But that's impossible. Keyser is not a Turkish word and neither is Soze. You can look all you want.

It was also said that "Keyser Soze is said to have a Turkish mother and a German father. According to Singer, in a mix of German and Turkish, "Keyser Soze" can be roughly translated as "King Blabbermouth."

I do not speak German nor I want to but Soze does not mean Blabbermouth. It means nothing.

The only Turkish thing about the character is how he smokes. And I'm sure many people from other countries hold the cigarette the same, once in a while.

I know that this post is unnecessarily long...
But Keyser Soze is a meaningless sh.t. Maybe Keyser means something, I do not care... But Soze is definitely not the Turkish word for blabbermouth.

We call them "geveze". (Our language is really hard and weird for English speaking people, do not try to learn... really.) Keyser Geveze would've given away important stuff early in the film but when I first watched the film and heard the name "Keyser Soze", it did not ring any bells. Because it means nothing.

Hey, so crazy thing, I speak German and a little bit of Turkmen! Kaiser (spelled differently but pronounced the same) does in fact mean 'Emperor' in German and söz in Turkmen means 'word' (pronounced differently then the movie). So in Turkmen, atleast Keyser Söze is a veerrry rough, mispronounced, ungrammatical translation of something like "Emperor of Words," which is a very fitting name for a character who can always talk his way out of things. Kaiser Sözing/Sözling would have been a better translation (or even better Kaiseri Sözling, but that sounds less like a real name), but I don't know if that would've been too obvious to Turkish/Turkmen speakers (or if that's even something the film-makers were even concerned about.)

PS Blabbermouth in Turkmen is Kepçy (might be regional slang though I have no idea.)

coffee
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Re: Coolest Characters Names

Post by coffee »

Yes.

During a solar eclipse, if you squint your eyes while you read "Soze", it means both "verbal" and "kint" at the same time. Giant spoiler for those squinty eyed people who watched the movie with subtitles during a solar eclipse.

coffee
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Re: Coolest Characters Names

Post by coffee »

People in Hollywood do not respect other languages and cultures. And if someone expects them to do, that person is an idiot. I honestly do not care when some clearly non-Turkish dudes play Turkish pirates in The Pirates of the Caribbean. I do not care. I honestly do not think filmmakers should learn their facts throughly. But when a director says that stupid sh.t then I've got a problem with that. That's all.

Keyser Soze is a terrible character name because the director ruined it. If he told that "I made it up! I invented that name." that would've been fantastic.

CosmicMonkey
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Re: Coolest Characters Names

Post by CosmicMonkey »

You're right, Hollywood in general puts almost no effort into researching other languages/cultures/peoples. Big-budget Hollywood films spend over a year in a production; All one of the writers needed was one afternoon to do some reading and come up with a better version of that name, but Singer did did 5 minutes of work went "enh, this is vaguely Turkish-sounding" and called it a day.

I totally think you're right to be angry about this, by the way. Hollywood can do better.

CosmicMonkey
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Re: Coolest Characters Names

Post by CosmicMonkey »

Case in point, I live in Quebec, and I have to yet to watch an American film or TV show that has ever gotten a portrayal of French-Canadians correct, or even had an accent that's even close to what the French sounds like here. (Weirdly, the closest thing thing I've seen has been Mad Men, actually) If they can't be bothered to do the work to represent us properly, when we live only an hour away from New York state, they sure as hell aren't going to the work for a place as far away and distant as Turkey.

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