Date:  Thu, 13 Mar 1997 10:11:40 -0800
From:  Allen Maberry <maberry[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]U.WASHINGTON.EDU>
Subject: Re: -mondo

I believe Mondo Cane was an Italian film, and that the Fonz's full name
was Fonzerelli. Perhaps we're dealing with a faux-Italian suffix, -mundo,
-amundo (with emphasis on the "faux-"). The closest truly Italian suffix
would probably be -mento.

Allen
maberry[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]u.washington.edu

On Wed, 12 Mar 1997, Donald M. Lance wrote:

> >> 2) on mock- or faux-Spanish (no problemo, etc.): another formation I've
> >> come across recently is the superlative-forming -mondo, e.g. the use of
> >> both "correctamundo" and "perfectamundo" in a currently-airing radio
> >> commercial for RCA.
>
> Maybe just my overworked imagination, but I wonder whether there was some
> connection between the Fonz's use of -mundo and the movie 'Mondo Cane' that
> ame out somewhere back in that era.
>