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This is a group of nicknames, widely used in the British press in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, for which there is no formal name.
Gazza
Probably the best known of these eponyms and the one that, in Britain at least, gave rise to the others was "Gazza" (c.1990) for the England international footballer, Paul Gascoigne (b.1967). Gascoigne claims this name was handed down by his father, who was originally known as "Gassa", but changed the name when his football coach pronounced it with a marked "zz" sound [1]. However, "Gazza" itself was not an original form [citation needed] and was quite possibly derived from "Bazza", a popular nickname in Australia.
In 1998 the controversy over Gascoigne's omission from the England squad for the World Cup finals in France was dubbed "Gazzagate" (in imitation of the Watergate scandal of the 1970s). Gascoigne's autobiography (2006) was entitled Being Gazza: My Road to Hell and Back.
Australia
Although British works of reference tend not to make the link, it seems likely that the progenitor of "Gazza" was "Bazza", the nickname of both the Australian actor and writer Barry Humphries (b.1934) [citation needed] and his creation, Barry McKenzie. McKenzie first appeared in Britain in 1968 in a fortnightly strip cartoon in the satirical magazine Private Eye [2] and was brought to life by Barry Crocker in the 1972 film, The Adventures of Barry McKenzie.
Similar forms (including "Gazza" or "Gaz" for men named Gary) were widespread in Australia [citation needed], where, as the Oxford lexicographer Susie Dent noted in The Language Report (2003), boundaries between formal and informal usage are often more fluid than elsewhere. By contrast, in Britain the "-zza" and similar forms tended to be associated with various politicians or celebrities whose activities were widely reported in the press, especially those with extrovert, troubled or, in the case particularly of women, feisty, personalities [citation needed].
"Bazza" (as well as the abbreviated "Baz") was applied in Australia to just about anyone with the first name "Barry" [citation needed]. Prominent examples included Labor politician Barry Jones (b.1932), Australian rules footballer Barry Hall (b.1977) and British motor-cyclist Barry Sheene (1950-2003). "Gazzas" included Australian rules players, Gary Ablett (b.1961) and Garry Lyon (b.1967) [citation needed].
British men
In imitation of "Gazza", the British Conservative Cabinet Minister Michael Heseltine (b.1933), who was Deputy Prime Minister 1995-7, became widely known as "Hezza". It is possible that this form was suggested in part by Heseltine's other nickname, "Tarzan" (which also contains the letters "za"). John Prescott (b.1938), who was Heseltine's Labour successor as Deputy Prime Minister from 1997, was frequently dubbed "Prezza". Following a public spat between Heseltine and Prescott in 2006 ("Prezza vs Hezza" [3]), British Prime Minister Tony Blair remarked in the House of Commons, "I prefer Prezza to Hezza" [4].
Other prominent male examples of the "-zza" in Britain were:
During the 2006 football World Cup, Private Eye referred to Gary Lineker (b.1960), TV presenter and former England footballer, as "Gazza" ("Gazza grinningly signed off ..." [6]).
British women
Recurring female "-zzas" included:
- "Chezza", which has been used in respect of barrister Cherie Booth (b.1954), wife of Tony Blair, and singer Cheryl Cole (née Tweedy, 1983) of the group Girls Aloud;
- "Gezza", given to former Spice Girls member and soloist Geri Halliwell (b.1972);
- “Mazza” for Norwegian-born journalist and broadcaster Mariella Frostrup (b.1962) [7];
- "Shazza" for impresario Sharon Osbourne (b.1952), wife of musician "Ozzy" Osbourne ; and
- "Shezza" for Paul Gascoigne's former wife, Sheryl, and others with that name, including occasionally the American singer and songwriter Sheryl Crow (b.1962).
The Russian tennis champion Maria Sharapova (b.1987), who won the women's singles at Wimbledon in 2004, was sometimes referred to in the British press as "Shazza" (especially in terms of her being a "starlet"). Some popular newspapers adopted "Chazza" when reporting the private life of the Welsh singer, Charlotte Church (b.1986), and "Gazza" with reference to Welsh international rugby player, Gavin Henson (b.1982), with whom Church was (and still is) linked romantically.
- "-a" form, as in Carra for footballer Jamie Carragher [8] ("Carra Kop Euro rap"[9]); Rafa for Rafael Benitez, Liverpool football coach from 2004 ("Rafa rings the changes as Reds finally impress" [10]); and Sheva for Chelsea's Ukrainian-born striker Andriy Shevchenko ("Sheva is not untouchable" [11])
Notes
Gascoigne, Paul, Gazza: Daft as a Brush (1990, Queen Anne Press) (ISBN 0-356-19751-4)
See Richard Ingrams (ed 1971) The Life and Times of Private Eye 1961-1971; Harry Thompson (1994) Richard Ingrams: Lord of the Gnomes
Headline in Daily Mail, quoted in Susie Dent (2006) The Language Report
House of Commons Hansard Debates for 10 May 2006 Private Eye, 23 June 2006
Compton Miller (1997) Who’s Really! Who
Metro, 1 June 2006; Sunday Times, 2 July 2006
Controversy=
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Some[who?] contend that the cup only first received scholarly analysis in 1993 due to its controversial subject matter. However, this is probably not the whole story. For centuries, at least since the time of the writings of Johann Joachim Winckelmann, cultural and visual art objects with homoerotic scenes that survived censorship were traded privately in underground markets by people with like interests.[citation needed] In the 1980s, due to changing attitudes towards, and greater acceptance of homosexuality in general, many of these objects came onto public, non-clandestine art markets and onto view in public museums (the Cup was loaned by a private owner for public exhibition in the Antikenmuseum Basel and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), for the first time in centuries. Thus, the increase in scholarly attention was probably due to excitement about the recently-surfaced objects and their histories, as well as a need for authentication and attention that capitalist art markets require.
