Humor Book Celebrates Wonder of Apt Names

MADISON, Wis. - March 12, 2013 - PRLog -- (Madison) It's funnier than fiction, guaranteed. Wacky News Names: Monikers that Make You Smirk, by Stephen J. Busalacchi, features real names from the news that are often humorously appropriate because of the person's occupation or context in a story. These names are known as aptronyms.

Busalacchi is a writer, public relations specialist and former Wisconsin Public Radio reporter. It was during his WPR days in the mid-1980s that this name-collecting hobby began.

A real-life Dr. Frankenstein penned the book's foreword: "For those of us with distinctive surnames, Wacky News Names will reassure that many others feel our pain," says Richard Frankenstein, MD, an internist from California.

Dentist Les Plack and police officer Steve Kopp certainly must understand what Dr. Frankenstein is talking about! They are among the 700-plus names featured in Wacky News Names, along with inventively-drawn sketches from Wisconsin cartoonist Anthony Schmidt.

Along the way, Busalacchi provides some context by discussing the variety of aptronyms that emerge and why they aren't always immediately apparent. Do you see why Anne Tennies, a TV broadcasting technician, would be included?

Busalacchi began collecting the names about 25 years ago, along with a WPR colleague. "Once we noticed these connections, it became much easier to find similar names and it was just impossible to stop," recalls Busalacchi. "They always cracked us up."

Wacky News Names will ship April 1, 2013 but it's no April Fool's Day book, as all of the names are real and verifiable.

Pre-order the book at http://www.apollosvoice.com/NavigationPages/WackyNewsNames/tabid/338/Default.aspx

Wacky News Names: Monikers that Make You Smirk, by Stephen J. Busalacchi. Original edition, 7 x 5 soft cover, 135 pages, 30 illustrations. ISBN-13: 978-0-9794222-6-3, $19.97. See   for a 300 dpi TIF of the cover, a summary of the book, and more.


Stephen J. Busalacchi is a writer, interviewer and publicist in Madison, Wisconsin. He is also the author of several other books, including the award-winning oral history, White Coat Wisdom: Extraordinary doctors talk about what they do, how they got there and why medicine is so much more than a job.


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