Tarzan comics & 'Ape-English' memories..

Subject: RE: Tarzan comics & 'Ape-English' memories..
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 14 May 01 - 12:55 AM

Sorry, Hawk, I was watching the movies, and as far as I know the only African word Tarzan ever used was ungowah!. Usually addressed to Cheetah, it at various times meant "go for help", "hand me the knife", and "stop doing that". It was certainly versatile, and seemed to depend on inflection for meaning.

Why was it, when Jane was left alone, that some animal was always taking advantage of the opportunity to attack her? If Jane went for a swim, you knew the crocodiles would be waiting. If she relaxed on a sunny rock while Tarzan went swimming, then a Boa Constrictor was bound to go for her. And she'd pay no attention to Cheetah, who would be jumping up and down and going ape-shit trying to let her know. Finally she would scream and Tarzan would scurry over and knife the creature, shouting out Cheetah! Ungowah! Go get Doctor Draper!

I thought their treehouse was pretty cool, kind of a Flintstones deal with plates made out of rocks, bamboo easy chairs, moss curtains and stuff, and Tarzan could kick back with a bowl of Lion Chips and an Elephant Brew while Jane gave him a shoulder-rub.

The first Tarzan film was really popular among me and my friends, because for some insane reason, Jane had a nude swimming scene in it that they didn't cut out. The later Tarzan films showed that they were running out of ideas, though. Remember Tarzan in New York where Weismuller dove off the Brooklyn Bridge? How about Tarzan Versus the Martians?

Sorry I couldn't help on the literary front, but thanks for the opportunity to share my Tarzan Movie memories. Now Ungowah, Little Hawk! Ungowah!

Subject: RE: Tarzan comics & 'Ape-English' memories..
From: DonMeixner
Date: 13 May 01 - 11:59 PM

ERB wasn't very successful at anything until he started writing A Princess of Mars, I believe it was. Tarzan may be his most famous but many of his other stories are better. Some are quite excellent, Like "The Mucker" "The Moon Maid" and probably the best of the bunch "The Mad King" and "The Outlaw of Torn".

ERB didn't really care for Weismuller as Tarzan or Buster Crabbe forthat matter. He though Bruce Cabot (Herman Brix) from one Tarzan film in the 30's played the prt perfectly as well as looked the part the best.

I must say I really liked Greystoke with Christopher Lambert as Tarzan as a film adaptation.

The best Tarzan comics were the ones drawn by Russ Manning for Dell Four Color, later Gold Key. The Sunday strips done by Bourne Hogarth were also exceptional but probably the best strip work was done by Hal Foster before he started Prince Valiant.

Don

Subject: RE: Tarzan comics & 'Ape-English' memories..
From: DonMeixner
Date: 13 May 01 - 11:59 PM

ERB wasn't very successful at anything until he started writing A Princess of Mars, I believe it was. Tarzan may be his most famous but many of his other stories are better. Some are quite excellent, Like "The Mucker" "The Moon Maid" and probably the best of the bunch "The Mad King" and "The Outlaw of Torn".

ERB didn't really care for Weismuller as Tarzan or Buster Crabbe forthat matter. He though Bruce Cabot (Herman Brix) from one Tarzan film in the 30's played the prt perfectly as well as looked the part the best.

I must say I really liked Greystoke with Christopher Lambert as Tarzan as a film adaptation.

The best Tarzan comics were the ones drawn by Russ Manning for Dell Four Color, later Gold Key. The Sunday strips done by Bourne Hogarth were also exceptional but probably the best strip work was done by Hal Foster before he started Prince Valiant.

Don

Subject: RE: Tarzan comics & 'Ape-English' memories..
From: Bill D
Date: 13 May 01 - 11:30 PM

and...*grin*...I trust the WWW....here you go, Ape_English Dictionary

(did a search on kreegah and bundolo appearing on the same page)

Subject: RE: Tarzan comics & 'Ape-English' memories..
From: Bill D
Date: 13 May 01 - 11:24 PM

I have several of the original hardcover books, and I can assure you, most of the ape-English words were used long before the comics!....

Subject: RE: Tarzan comics & 'Ape-English' memories..
From: Giac
Date: 13 May 01 - 10:50 PM

Hey, LH --

Check this out:

Listing of Tarzan comics

and:

Really about Prince Valiant, but interesting stuff about Tarzan

Some of my fondest memories of acting out Tarzan comics involved playing in my best friend's treehouse, and the two of us forcing her little brother and one of his hapless friends to be Boy and Cheetah.

Mary

Subject: RE: Tarzan comics & 'Ape-English' memories..
From: Little Hawk
Date: 13 May 01 - 09:03 PM

Ah, hah! Well, that helps some. Another word comes to mind: "gumado" I think it meant "sick", but I'm not sure if I'm remembering it right. I still think Burroughs (or somebody) stole words from some existing African language, but I'm not sure about that either.

Tarzan trivia questions: How did the apeman get around to wearing a loincloth? Apes, after all, do not. And how did he get the idea of shaving his face? Apes don't do that either.

- LH

Subject: RE: Tarzan comics & 'Ape-English' memories..
From: MMario
Date: 13 May 01 - 08:39 PM

Those words were all used *in the books* I don't remember any more of them, but I *do* remember that in one book a captive great ape taught the language to Jack - and it was when he helped that ape escape and return to Africa that Jack got the "Korak" name.

Subject: RE: Tarzan comics & 'Ape-English' memories..
From: Little Hawk
Date: 13 May 01 - 06:14 PM

Peter T. - The John Carter of Mars books were indeed Edgar Rice Burroughs' finest accomplishment...amazingly imaginative and exotic in every way, with of course plenty of extreme melodrama to keep the plot moving.

Deja Thoris it was, one of the most spectacular heroines of all time, if a tad inclined to being kidnapped and carried off at the drop of a hat.

Remember Tars Tarkas? I always wondered if he was indirectly inspired by Taras Bulba or something...?

Tarzan's son was also named Korak (the killer) in the original books, I believe, as well as Jack. I read the entire Tarzan series and the Mars series between age 10 and 15, as I recall.

BUT...YOU GUYS ARE MISSING THE POINT HERE! I AM NOT TALKING ABOUT THE BOOKS (hardcover or softcover), I AM TALKING ABOUT THE COMIC BOOKS!

It was in the Dell Comics that all that Ape-English stuff appeared, as far as I know. Once a year, Dell used to do an extra-thick Tarzan Annual issue, and they would put a glossary of Ape-English words in the back of it. I wish I had those old comics now.

Didn't anyone else read the comics, or were you all glued to the *&%$ing TV in the 50's & 60's?

Does anyone else remember any of the words?

Anyone?

- LH

Subject: RE: Tarzan comics & 'Ape-English' memories..
From: Charley Noble
Date: 13 May 01 - 05:17 PM

I have fond memories of reading these books out aloud to my shipmates as we worked our way back from the Bahamas in the 1960's. The challenge was to see how far you could stray from the text before anyone caught on. There were harsh penalties for unsuccessful challenges – arrrgghhhh!

Subject: RE: Tarzan comics & 'Ape-English' memories..
From: Peter T.
Date: 13 May 01 - 04:51 PM

Not to hijack the thread, but the John Carter of Mars series was far superior, and no one ever did them as a movie or anything. It may have been the need for multiple arms. But someone could do them today. What was the woman's name? Was it Deja Thoris? (swoon!)

yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Tarzan comics & 'Ape-English' memories..
From: GUEST,Midchuck upstairs
Date: 13 May 01 - 04:46 PM

Most of these "Ape" words appear in the original Edgar Rice Burroughs Tarzan books. I don't know if he made them up completely or got them from somewhere.

In the books, though, Tarzan's son was named Jack. The "Boy" thing came from the movies, I think.

Peter.

Subject: Tarzan comics & 'Ape-English' memories..
From: Little Hawk
Date: 13 May 01 - 04:09 PM

Yes, Tarzan comics! A great enjoyment of mine when I was a kid. In those days Tarzan appeared in Dell Comics, later known as Gold Key. This was long before Marvel got hold of the character.

The Tarzan comics in those days were in a kind of golden age, with a sort of innocent quality that could not find acceptance nowadays, because everyone has become so touchy about all kinds of racial, cultural, and gender issues. The Tarzan world was an enjoyable fantasy view of African life that owed a lot to 19th century perceptions of the "Dark Continent", a place teeming with wild animals, fierce tribesman, and lush, impenetrable jungles.

One of the really odd things in the Tarzan comics was a dialect supposedly spoken by the "great apes" (Tarzan's extended simian family, who were NOT gorillas, but some fictional strain of large ape)...it was also spoken by Tarzan on a regular basis, and soon became part of the vocabulary of all comic-reading kids.

Examples:

Tar-zan (white-skin), Numa (lion), Sabor (lioness), Bolgani (gorilla), Gimla (crocodile), Tantor (elephant), Horta (warthog), mangani (great apes), tarmangani (white man/men), gomangani (black African man/men), and so on...

One may easily deduce from the above that "tar" meant white (ironical, isn't it?), and "go" meant black.

Then there was N'kima, Tarzan's chimpanzee companion who often came along on various adventures, and was good at sounding the alarm. Oddly enough, the movie industry decided to rename the chimp "Cheetah", which is really stupid, since we all know that a cheetah is not a chimpanzee. They probably thought that the average American movie-goer couldn't handle a name as complicated and exotic as N'kima! Well, duh!!! As usual, they underestimated their public. N'kima is a way better name than Cheetah. It probably simply means "chimpanzee", I suspect.

And then....prehistoric beasts...which sometimes showed up in some mysterious lost valley in central Africa...

Garth (tyrranosaurus rex)

Gryf (triceratops)

The "Gryf" interestingly enough, could be ridden if you walked straight up to it, uttered a particular cry and whacked it on the snout with a stick or a bow. It would then swing its head to one side, snap the empty air, and allow you to mount behind its neck armour and use it as an all-terrain vehicle! Very handy when fighting "Garths", who invariably got gored in the stomach or shot in the back of the mouth with arrows. Ah! The utter ease of being a loincloth-wearing hero in a savage land!

Now then, Tarzan also acquired a young son, named (with exquisite imagination) "Boy". Boy remained conveniently 10 or 12 years old on an indefinite basis, and was a pretty resourceful character who occasionally needed rescuing by the old man. Boy also had a young friend, a black African boy named "Dombi". Dombi was mainly there to provide conversation, get in trouble, and get rescued. I suspect that his name meant something similar to "Tonto", which means "dimwit" or "lunkhead" in Spanish. He was always getting into difficulties, and would probably be considered a racist stereotype nowadays by more than a few people.

Last, but not least...my 3 favorite Ape-English words:

Gom!!! (Run!)

Bundolo!!! (Kill!)

Kreegah!!! (Beware! Look out!)

Those ones were great, and appeared in most of the action scenes. I still feel like yelling "Kreegah!" when a bunch of bikers pull onto main street or a new Bushwhacked thread gets launched...

Now....does anyone else remember any more of the Ape-English words? And does anyone know what language they REALLY come from? I heard once that it was Swahili, but this has not been confirmed.

Go to it. Give us those Tarzan memories.

- LH