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Post by Esmé's meme is meh on Aug 20, 2015 12:37:50 GMT -5
I noticed that, as usual, the use of anagrams of "Count Olaf" are present in THH; all the associates use one (Lucafont, Flacutono, Dr. Tocuna and Nurse Flo). The thing is that generally the anagrams are exact, using the same amount of letters in "Count Olaf" to create a new name, but here we have something different: Nurse Flo and Dr. Tocuna don't use all letters, and actually have some extra letters.
I know it probably doesn't mean anything but I thought it would be fun to try to do something with that.
The letters they didn't use of "Count Olaf" in "Nurse Flo" are C, O, T and A, and in "Dr. Tocuna" are O, L and F. Also the extra letters in each one are R, S, E and D and R.
That leaves us with a total of twelve letters (damn I was sure they'd be 13).
Some of the words I found are "Taco", "Rose", "Folders" and "Flores" (Spanish for flowers).
What else can you find? Do you think these letters mean something special?
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Post by Skelly Craig on Aug 20, 2015 12:56:00 GMT -5
(Nurse) Flo & (Dr.) Tocuna are supposed to be seen as one. They are an anagram of 'Count Olaf' split in two, with additional titles (Nurse, Dr.) that aren't part of the anagram.
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Post by Esmé's meme is meh on Aug 21, 2015 7:19:21 GMT -5
!!!
Damn you're right. Silly me for not noticing it before. I just took the U and N from Nurse but didn't notice they were complementary.
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Post by Dante on Aug 22, 2015 16:10:56 GMT -5
Shame this one didn't pan out for you, Zortegus, but there is one interesting point about THH: Fernald's disguised name is revised to "Dr. O. Lucafont," whereas in TRR it was given as "Dr. Lucafont" - the latter of which is not a complete anagram. The O., however, does complete it. It's as nice to have that little retcon as to see that disguise revived for a little while.
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Post by A comet crashing into Earth on Aug 22, 2015 16:55:43 GMT -5
Shame this one didn't pan out for you, Zortegus, but there is one interesting point about THH: Fernald's disguised name is revised to "Dr. O. Lucafont," whereas in TRR it was given as "Dr. Lucafont" - the latter of which is not a complete anagram. The O., however, does complete it. It's as nice to have that little retcon as to see that disguise revived for a little while. I've thought of this, too, and find it particularly interesting. 'Lucafont' alone is clearly too close to the anagram to be a coincidence - when DH wrote TRR, he must've planned to use the name as an anagram. Yet, he withholds from us the letter that completes the anagram for another six books. The only reason I can think of for this decision is that DH must've planned this detail exactly as it turned out, knowing while writing TRR that the disguise would eventually return so that the first initial could be revealed. This doesn't correspond well to other details - the way the tone and patterns changes over the course of the series, the fact that VFD and the significance of the eye suddenly comes into the picture, all suggests that even the overall picture was largely formed as he went along. In contrast, how would he have planned such a minor detail at such an early point? |
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Post by MisterM on Aug 23, 2015 4:56:24 GMT -5
Or he just forgot the first time.
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Post by Dante on Aug 23, 2015 4:58:58 GMT -5
More boringly, it's possible that the original "Dr. Lucafont" was simply a mistake, and Handler just wasn't as adept at anagrams at the time as he later became. It's worth remembering that there are genuine errors here and there in the books, including errors relating to secret codes; there's at least one Sebald Code in the U.A. which doesn't actually work if you try and work it out for yourself rather than using the pre-indicated underlinings, though some of these errors might have been created by slight editing changes to the text. In other words, I don't think the missing initial is meaningful, though it might have influenced Handler's subsequent decision to revive the disguise because it meant he could correct the error.
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Post by gliquey on Aug 24, 2015 13:55:20 GMT -5
Translators have sometimes missed the fact that "Al Funcoot" is an anagram of "Count Olaf", so clearly, these anagrams aren't always noticed and understood by editors and publishers. The fact that "Flacutono" didn't quite work was not something I would expect anyone but Handler to pick up before the book was published, and it seems like he just made a minor blip which he was nice enough to retcon in THH. As Dante says, I think it's even likely that he brought the disguise back in THH at least partially so he could fix the anagram.
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Post by A comet crashing into Earth on Aug 31, 2015 10:34:41 GMT -5
I suppose that Lucafont being an error is the most plausible thing. It just seems like a really unlikely thing to happen - how can you (with all due respect to DH, of course) go to the trouble of creating an anagram and then forget to check it for things like this?
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Post by J-Bird on Aug 31, 2015 21:14:59 GMT -5
The Lucafont thing bothered me as well. But have you ever heard of how rug-makers purposely put a flaw into their work so as not to perpetuate perfection? Perhaps this is one of those instances. Or perhaps Olaf was one of those guys that got a bad grade in the Anagram course that Lemkny mentions being part of training. Either way, it's not a big deal.
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