It might interest Widmark fans to know that Tommy was a very
popular nickname amongst Johannesburg's (Soweto's, really)
tsotsis, or street thugs, in the 1960s and later. And amongst
themselves they enacted the giggle and leer of the wheelchair
scene as often as American street thugs now enact Pacino's
various taglines from the horrid remake of Scarface. ("Say
hello to my leetle friend," etc.) It's incredible how
international even a tiny flag of American culture can be.
And, yes, even tsotsi is a corruption of "Zoot suit."
John Shannon
**************Create a Home Theater Like the Pros. Watch the
video on AOL Home.
(
http://home.aol.com/diy/home-improvement-eric-stromer?video=15&ncid=aolhom00030000000001)
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