Miscellaneous desk
< April 26	<< Mar \| April \| May >>	April 28 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Miscellaneous Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

April 27[edit]

A movie related to the fall of Saigon[edit]

On this video I discovered a Vietnamese movie tribute to the fall of Saigon, seen from description, the name of movie seems like "Battle of Saigon", who know the information relating to this movie? -- Great Brightstar (talk) 09:05, 27 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

A look at IMDb finds Giai phóng Sai Gòn (2005). A machine translation suggests the title might mean "Saigon assault" or something similar. IMDb lists the cast and credits, together with a review submitted by a reader. Google also says you can see the film on YouTube, but I wouldn't like to comment on the copyright status. Alansplodge (talk) 12:55, 27 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

OK, thanks. -- Great Brightstar (talk) 03:21, 28 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The video linked to above contains excerpts of the full film on YouTube. The title is probably a word play on the name, also the first words, of the anthem of the PRG, Giải phóng miền Nam (To Liberate the South). --Lambiam 08:22, 28 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Tin Lizzie, Thin Lizzie, and not a Model T[edit]

The Ford Model T was called a Tin Lizzie. While growing up and listening to classic rock music, I always just figured the band Thin Lizzy got their name from the car but just tweaked it slightly to not cause legal trouble with Ford. Now I find that they actually got their name from a character in a British comic book, The Dandy, called Tin Lizzie, who was a robot maid of some sort. The name of the band went from Tin to Thin to poke fun at the local Dublin accent. So, can anyone tell me where the character Tin Lizzie got the name? Is it as simple as her full name being Elizabeth which was shortened to Lizzie and, because she was a robot, tin sounded good in front of it? Thanks, †dismas†|^(talk) 14:14, 27 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia doesn't have an article about the creator of the strip, nor the strip itself, but it appeared in The Dandy, a British comics magazine, drawn by Jack Prout, who also lacks an article, but another comic he did was Black Bob (comics). The publisher was DC Thomson (unrelated to Detective Comics/DC Comics). I found out much of this here. I hope that gives you some leads. --Jayron 32 14:22, 27 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English records a slightly earlier (1914) use of the phrase as a nickname for HMS Queen Elizabeth (1913). Although the Model T was made in the UK in some numbers by Ford of Britain, it lacks the iconic status here that it has in the USA, and I would be surprised if any British child in the 1950s would connect the nickname with the car. My guess is that it's just a phrase that assonates pleasingly; other well-known Dandy characters include Desperate Dan and Keyhole Kate. Alansplodge (talk) 18:43, 27 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

~~I've seen "Tin Lizzie" in reference to the Model T as early as 1910. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 19:12, 27 April 2021 (UTC)~~ Newspapers.com had the wrong date. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 14:55, 28 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The OED Online has a 1976 entry defining Lizzle, in which sense 2 is "A motor car, esp. an early model of a 'Ford'. Also Tin Lizzie." Note that this leaves it ambiguous whether it means any early Ford or a specific model such as, of course, the Model T. The earliest quotation cited is from an advertisement on the back cover of a 1913 Burt L. Standish book and reads: "So, when you get tired of rolling around in your Lady Lizzie... hie yourself to the nearest news dealer." I thought this quotation from the Daily Express in 1927 was interesting: "The present Ford model is no longer popular, because of its cheap appearance and association with the name 'Tin Lizzie'." By the way, sense 4 of Lizzle in that dictionary is wine from Lisbon, sense 3 is military slang for a big gun (as found on the battleship that Alan mentioned), and sense 1 is a lesbian or an effeminate man. --184.147.181.129 (talk) 06:43, 28 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I took "Lizzie" in the warship nickname to be from "Elizabeth" in the ship's name. Alansplodge (talk) 11:34, 28 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Here is a 1908 US use, not identifying a brand but implying that a "tin Lizzie" is a relatively cheap car model. --Lambiam 09:20, 28 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

My mother started driving in the early 1960s and where her old banger (1939 Vauxhall 10) wouldn't start or when it was running on three cylinders, she would try to encourage it by saying "Come on Lizzie Cluck". I have no idea who Lizzie Cluck was. --TrogWoolley (talk) 11:06, 29 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Isn't cluck just a variant of the affectionate term of address chuck, used in the North? DuncanHill (talk) 13:01, 29 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]