Uncle Cliff? Aunt Kay?
It was Uncle Clarry and Aunt Noeline in the book/tv series. Why the change? Are these names no longer 'in fashion' or something?
Not a big deal, I know. Just curious.
I think you just answer your own question. Noeline is out of date and out of fashion for sure, and was Clarry ever in fashion?
Reply or... the hamster gets it!
agreed, both characters, today, are my age, and name trends are generational. I can imagine in '81 having an Aunty Noeline, but not so much now. Not that there aren't people of my age group with those names, but they stand out today, and clearly the Producers wanted names a little more subtle.
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There are plenty of unusual names in NZ and Noeline is certainly very "Kiwi". Men's names can also be unusual, such as Te Huia and such. Of course Maori names are very common in New Zealand since they are supposedly the first people to have arrived in NZ, sometime prior to the English. As an American living here for the past 7.5 years, I can tell you that there is no shortage of unusual names in NZ. It appears that the names in the current release may have been American-ized, although I'm not sure I understand why, because the storyline actually takes place in Auckland, New Zealand.
sharemaybe it is to cater to the International market, but I think it's more about dulling the names down I mean it's close to just calling them 'John' or 'Sarah'. I could imagine if the character was still named Uncle Clarry, people might be distracted somewhat by it - I know, stupid but you know it happens. The focal characters managed to keep their names intact so that's the only thing that I would imagine they changed it for.
"Your hatred energizes me - Bring it on, and watch me RADIATE"
Yeah, fair enough. Everyone's made good points. I guess it's just that after having had the book/tv series burned in my memory since childhood, the names are totally synonymous with the characters. I actually think both Clarry and Noeline are bloody awful names, but they really suited the white urban middle-class, middle-aged characters of the story - Clarry, who makes crap jokes about blue jeans and Noeline calling the kids 'twinnies'. They just fit. But times do move on and I guess if they'd been called Cliff and Kay originally, I'd be saying the same thing. We can already tell that this version is going to be very different in tone, and if Sam Neill's Mr Jones is any indication (based on what I've seen online so far), the characters are going to be markedly different as well. It's going be really interesting to see what they've come up with.
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