86 Comments
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William Pifer-Foote's avatar

I like Father Guido Sarducci from SNL of old proving Pope Maurice.

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Jon Ketzner's avatar

Does he speak of the pompatus of love?

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Sasquatch's avatar

Ketzner, you're such a Joker.

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William Pifer-Foote's avatar

Should have been “proposing.”

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Gary E Masters's avatar

"Life is a job!"

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Robot Bender's avatar

I'd rather see him as Pope.

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Gene Weingarten's avatar

Touche.

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Jack Ohman’s You Betcha!'s avatar

I’m a Muscat guy!!!

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Mad Chatter's avatar

Remember that Seventies hit "Muscat Love"? "Muscat Suzie, Muscat Sam..."

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Leslie G's avatar

Every time I see the name Djibouti, I hear the song "Shipoopi" from The Music Man in my head....

And Fr Pizzaballa is a winner, for sure! I guess his name originated from the pizza-making process. There must also be a family called Pizzaflatta.

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Helena Handbasket's avatar

And there's the popular racket sport that's sweeping Italy -- Pickleballa.

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Suzanne S Barnhill's avatar

Yes, "The Music Man" is also my association with Djibouti. I saw the Pizzaballa name somewhere yesterday and just assumed it was satire and made up. <g>

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Muriel Nicol Amsden's avatar

For me, it's "Shake your Bootie" but, I say it as a person's title - "Sheikh Djibouti"

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Sasquatch's avatar

Beware! The estate of Frank Zappa might hit you with a copyright infringement suit.

https://vinyl-records.nl/frank-zappa/frank-zappa-sheik-yerbouti-england-vinyl-lp-album.html

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Muriel Nicol Amsden's avatar

Yes, I'm sure that's how it got into my head. I won't pretend it was all my invention!

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Leslie G's avatar

I like that one, too! Now maybe I can get "Shipoopi" out of my head.

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kenneth gallant's avatar

So as you will see from my note below, I am only the Third person to mention shepoobie/Djibouti here

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Jim Derby's avatar

There once was a pope named Hilarius.

As to whether he was, there are various

Opinions, I hear,

But let me make clear

That I do hope he wasn't nefarious.

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Don Weingarten's avatar

Cardinal Pizzaballa is actually a frontrunner; he has a decent chance. I believe he should, if elected, choose a similarly entertaining Papal Name: Perhaps Pope Linguini I, or Pope Mozzarella I, or something like that.

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Lairbo's avatar

If Pizzaballa is chosen, his pope name should be "Original Ray" or maybe, "Papa John".

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COL Mustard's avatar

Pope Ledo the Square.

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Mike Gips's avatar

Not if he wants to be a GOOD Pope.

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Sam Mertens's avatar

Regarding Cardinal Pizzaballa, does he have a deep body of work of writings or would people say it’s rather thin?

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Lairbo's avatar

Regardless of his chosen papal moniker, depending on how his papacy plays out, he could be nicknamed "Old Thin Crust" or "Old Deep Dish".

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Robot Bender's avatar

Pope Carbonara al Diablo?

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Sasquatch's avatar

Is Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa a humble man of the people, or is he part of the upper stuffed crust?

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heydave56's avatar

Gotta lean towards an homage by Zappa, as Shiek Yerbouti.

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Sasquatch's avatar

sick minds think alike

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Just Lil Ole Me's avatar

I see that the orange one is going to the Pope’s funeral. I’m sure he’ll be telling all the cardinals that HE should be the next Pope because he’s the SMARTEST, MOST CATHOLIC PERSON and it would be JUST GREAT. Make Catholicism Great Again.

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Michele's avatar

He posted on his social media page, he and Melania were looking forward to going to the Pope’s funeral. 😳 Seriously, what kind of person looks forward to a funeral?

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Lairbo's avatar

It's even money he poses for a "thumbs up" photo in front of the casket.

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Sasquatch's avatar

No bet here.

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Helena Handbasket's avatar

I'd love it if Bishop Mariann Budde -- who pissed off Trump at his inauguration -- would give the eulogy. But I guess a bishop who's a woman and a Protestant probably wouldn't fit the bill.

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Robot Bender's avatar

You have to wonder if he was even invited.

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Leslie G's avatar

His attendance is just blasphemy. I mean, the sight of Vance was enough to give Francis a stroke and a heart attack.

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Lairbo's avatar

It's always been the Vice President who went to the funerals for foreign heads of state but, now that he causes them...

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Just Lil Ole Me's avatar

Yeah, but you have to admit, JD IS pretty scary looking.

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Sasquatch's avatar

When he's not in drag make-up.

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Leslie G's avatar

Absolutely!

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Mad Chatter's avatar

No, Vance has already applied for the position. He may have swiped the papal ring from Francis at his audience.

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Stephanie's avatar

None of the country names is particularly funny. For outright hilarity, I give you the "United" States.

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Gary E Masters's avatar

Untied?

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Steve Geist's avatar

I saw the headline, "Naming a New Pontiff" and thought that this was the new Invitational contest.

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Jim Derby's avatar

My inbox cut it off at "Ponti..." and I thought "Wait, they don't even make Pontiacs anymore."

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Gary Crockett's avatar

Djibouti is funny as a country name, but it would be perfect as the name of a Sheikh.

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JefCon 1's avatar

I liked the concept of Pope Innocent III, son of Pope Innocent II, grandson of Pope Innocent I.

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JefCon 1's avatar

Footnote: Pope Innocent VIII fathered two children before he became a priest.

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Mad Chatter's avatar

Remember that the word "nepotism" was first used about the Curia, with so many good jobs going to "papal nephews". However, the Italian word "nepote" can mean either nephew or grandson.

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Ed Rorie's avatar

I will not vote on funny country names because one choice is a fish in a barrel and the others are red herrings.

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Trevor Stone Irvin's avatar

Have any of them mentioned their position on Alter boy sex yet???

Yes | Maybe | Occasionally | Only after services

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Cash Devilry's avatar

If we take it down a level to capital city, hands down Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, wins.

Fun Fact: Turkey is a country and a bird. In Brazilian Portuguese, a turkey is also referred to as peru, which is the name of the country Peru.

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ChrisD's avatar

I took a post in Upper Volta back in World War II,

It's now Burkina Faso, what's a diplomat to do?

The French Sudan is Mali, and Benin's replaced Dahomey,

But where the hell'd the Gold Coast go? Can anybody show me?

I've got the Ouagadougou-what'd-they-do-to-Africa blues.

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Pat Myers's avatar

The Voluminous Archives of Chris Doyle's Poetry are useful for virtually any occasion.

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Gloria's avatar

The former Gold Coast is now Ghana.

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Raymo's avatar

Isn't Ouagadougou the birthplace of roo-roo?

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Mad Chatter's avatar

And "dinde", French for turkey, the bird, comes from "d'Inde", "from India". And while we're at it, the Turkish government now wants the English name of their country to be spelled the same way it is in Turkish, Türkiye. When this story ran in the NYT, the Turkish spelling was used to indicate their preferred spelling, but all other references in the article retained the traditional English spelling. Suck it up, Erdoğan.

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Richard Wexler's avatar

One day at dinner when I was growing up, someone said something about the Nobel prize-winning physicist Polykarp Kusch. One of us, I don’t remember who, said: “*Which* Polykarp Kusch?” This then became a standing family joke whenever an unusual name was in the news. But, really, we just wanted to be sure no one confused him with the cardinal (though I'm sure this is why he spells his name differently).

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Kitchen Cynic's avatar

True story. Many years ago I phoned a manufacturer to get product information, and asked to speak to the owner, a Mr Queerengasser. The receptionist responded, “Which one?” Turned out there were two brothers who worked there

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Just Lil Ole Me's avatar

Your family sounds like they had fascinating dinner discussions!

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