Gyro's Great Grandfather: not a Gearloose!

Arthur Faria Jr. arthurfaria at projesom.com.br
Fri Nov 22 00:56:56 CET 2002


I wrote:

> > Just for information, "Neco" is a short for "Maneco", which
> > is a nickname for "Manoel". So, the real name of Neco Pardal
> > is actually Manoel Pardal (or Manoel Gearloose...)

Sigvald:

> Wouldn't that be written "Manuel" in English?

In Brazil we have both forms.

> > He must be the father of Barks' Ratchet Gearloose
> > (grandfather of Gyro).
> > 
> > Not necessarily... Gyro has four great-grandfathers,

> Yes, but how many of them will have the same family-name?
> Did more than one of your great grandfathers have Faria as
> his family name?

You're right! The mix-up here occured because:

1) In Brazil Disney characters usually have no family names
(as I said in another post only now the editors are
worrying about that) and then Brazilian writers (including me)
never get bothered about surnames when creating new relatives,
especially for only one story.

2) In Brazil people usually address other people by
their first name: "Mr. Arthur", not "Mr. Faria".
This is another good reason for not getting bothered
about comic characters' surnames over here, especially
funny animals.

3) In Brazil Gyro Gearloose is known just as
"Professor Pardal", where "Pardal" is not considered
as a family name, it's actually his *first* name,
something like "Professor Gyro". So, "Neco Pardal"
(a double first name, also common in Brazil)
can't be (technically) translated to "Neco Gearloose",
or "Manuel Gearloose" or whatever, as I wrongly stated.
Sorry! And more: all his relatives in Brazil use "Pardal"
(or derivations like "Pardalino") in their names just
as a reference to the readers. ...Phew!

Well, after that, I still think Neco Pardal is not
Ratchet's father (a Carl Barks character!!).
He is... the father of the mother of Gyro's mother.
With so many creative inventors in both branchs
of his family, it's not a surprise that Gyro is
so... ingenious, is it? ;-)

Now, about the family name of Gyro's mother...
I have no idea!!!!!!!! ;-)

 --Arthur.




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