"That famous Spanish skater"

[immoimeme]

My friend, who is very old and a verrrry casual fan, has been raving for months about "that famous Spanish skater-you know, the one who won a medal at the Olympics." And for months I have told him over and over there IS no such skater (at least not yet, talkin to you Javi! :-)

So, he's old, and poor, and doesn't have much in the way of entertainment beyond watching his voluminous VHS collection over and over. The other day he called to tell me all about the 1997 Tour of World Champions and how wonderful some of the skaters were, especially "that famous Spanish skater."

Me, big sigh: "And who was that, exactly?"

Him, as if stating the oh-so-obvious: "Phillippe Candeloro."

Aha. Mystery solved.

[Cherub721]

I knew it was Phillipe after reading the first sentence. PML!

[Vash01]

I didn't catch it till your last sentence.

Nice puzzle!

[AJ Skatefan]

LOL. My mother used to refer to Michelle Kwan as "That little Japanese girl."

[briancoogaert]

OH ! Maybe italian, but definitely not spanish !

[blue_idealist]

Haha.

[DarrellH]

Now, if he'd said "that famous Spanish skater that keeps taking off his clothes"...then it would have been obvious.

[Vagabond]

I think it's more sad than funny that he can't tell the difference between a French first name (Phillippe) and a Spanish one (Felipe) or, for that matter, doesn't recognize that the surname Candeloro might be anything other than Spanish in origin. (It's Italian.)

[CantALoop]

It's hilarious what our family/friends who are more casual fans of figure skaters come up with.

An aunt of mine once remarked, "Oh is that Korean girl Nancy Kwan still skating?"

[Quintuple]

An aunt of mine once remarked, "Oh is that Korean girl Nancy Kwan still skating?"

OK, this is like the 20th time I've read a post on FSU saying a relative said something like, "That Nancy Kwan - is she still skating?" Hell, even one of MY relatives said that.

Is there a term for "ubiquitous language association error made by a populace who are exposed to X level of content over X amount of time"? What is it with "Nancy Kwan" that rolls off the tongue?

[Nomad]

^ Maybe they're confusing her with Nancy Kwan, who starred in Flower Drum Song and The World of Suzie Wong.

[skateboy]

^ Maybe they're confusing her with Nancy Kwan, who starred in Flower Drum Song and The World of Suzie Wong.

I think it's that. Nancy Kwan was famous in the 50s and 60s, I believe. And after that she was the spokeswoman for "Pearl Cream."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaD_fvehAaU

[satchelpooch318]

My honest-to-God first thought was Yvonne Gomez, Brian Boitano's friend and training mate. So she's not famous or an Olympic medalist like Candeloro (or Boitano), but she's definitely Spanish.

[Sasha'sSpins]

I think it's more sad than funny that he can't tell the difference between a French first name (Phillippe) and a Spanish one (Felipe) or, for that matter, doesn't recognize that the surname Candeloro might be anything other than Spanish in origin. (It's Italian.)

I think it's an honest mistake. Many people not born into those cultures confuse names that have Latin or Romance sounding names-after all Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese and Romanian all share the same root language - Latin.

[Jot the Dot Dot]

Alot of people thought of Angelika Krylova as Spanish because of many of her & Oleg's Spanish music programs. Also the jet-black hair.

[Mafke]

My honest-to-God first thought was Yvonne Gomez

me too!!!

[TwizzlerS]

There's a woman at my husband's work whose first name is Tonya and last name begins with "H". He keeps calling her Tonya Harding. Not on purpose, but that just comes out.

[VIETgrlTerifa]

I think it's that. Nancy Kwan was famous in the 50s and 60s, I believe. And after that she was the spokeswoman for "Pearl Cream."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaD_fvehAaU

That commercial was...well...yeah...