Dr. Gero Name Pun (Puke/Vomit?)

SaiyaMel · Post by **SaiyaMel** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 8:36 pm

I learned the "gero" means to puke in Japanese... Is that where Dr Gero's name comes from?

Dayspring · Post by **Dayspring** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 9:20 pm

SaiyaMel wrote:I learned the "gero" means to puke in Japanese... Is that where Dr Gero's name comes from?

It's the sound a frog makes when it croaks.

Tweaker · Post by **Tweaker** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 9:31 pm

Dr. Croak?

How fitting. =P

SaiyaMel · Post by **SaiyaMel** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 11:39 pm

Maybe I'm thinking of another word for puke then that sounds similar? Kero?

Dayspring · Post by **Dayspring** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 12:10 am

SaiyaMel wrote:Maybe I'm thinking of another word for puke then that sounds similar? Kero?

Gero may be right, for all I know. I just remember what Gero's name is a pun on: the "gero gero" sound frog's make when they croak.

Post by **Herms** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 3:32 am

Gero means vomit itself, gero gero means “disgusting” or the sound a frog makes. As far as I know, there’s never been any official confirmation that any of these things are where Gero’s name comes from. I’ve personally always wondered if it wasn’t some distortion of “grey”, perhaps from some other romance language’s word for grey. That would fit both the aged Dr. Gero and the Red Ribbon Army member color naming scheme.

edit: Links changed from Jim Breene's Japanese dictionary to Space Alc.

Horgus · Post by **Horgus** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 6:29 am

The Japanese clearly do not approve of frogs.

Acid_Reign · Post by **Acid_Reign** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 8:18 am

Tweaker wrote:Dr. Croak?

How fitting. =P

Well technically it might be Dr. Ribbit, since gero by itself is merely the Japanese onomatopoeia for frog sounds, rather than the verb form meaning “to croak,” gero gero naku. Though, it could be either one I guess, since that’s a little more specific than necessary and would probably defeat the pun.

Herms wrote:Gero means vomit itself, gero gero means “disgusting” or the sound a frog makes. As far as I know, there’s never been any official confirmation that any of these things are where Gero’s name comes from. I’ve personally always wondered if it wasn’t some distortion of “grey”, perhaps from some other romance language’s word for grey. That would fit both the aged Dr. Gero and the Red Ribbon Army member color naming scheme.

That’s interesting. Is there any support for your theory? (BTW, those links don’t seem to work.)

Post by **Herms** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 8:36 am

Acid_Reign wrote:That’s interesting. Is there any support for your theory? (BTW, those links don’t seem to work.)

None really, other than a vague similiarity between "grey" and "gero". The word for grey in Luxembourgish is "gro"...that's kind of close. Bah, I'm grasping at straws...

Anyway, I don't know why I can never link to things on Jim Breene's dictionary. I'll try and see if I can fix them.

Post by **VegettoEX** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 9:17 am

Dr. Gero's name is definitely one that neither Julian or I have ever really had any solid thoughts on. We keep coming back to the same "vomit" and frog-related meanings that have already been noted, which really don't make a whole lot of sense. At all.

Seems a little strange that someone Toriyama at least partially intended to be a next villain wouldn't actually have some kind of clever name. At least Cell's name actually describes what he is! It may be literal, but it's better than nothing...

Post by **Herms** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 9:22 am

VegettoEX wrote:Seems a little strange that someone Toriyama at least partially intended to be a next villain wouldn't actually have some kind of clever name.

Well, technically only No.20 was supposed to be the next villian (along with No.19), so maybe Toriyama only thought of No.20 really being Gero later, when he was thinking of how to switch over to the new set of villians? The revelation that No.20 is Gero does come around the exact same time as the revelation that No.17 and No.18 exist.

Post by **VegettoEX** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 9:23 am

Herms wrote:Well, technically only No.20 was supposed to be the next villian (along with No.19), so maybe Toriyama only thought of No.20 really being Gero later, when he was thinking of how to switch over to the new set of villians? The revelation that No.20 is Gero does come around the exact same time as the revelation that No.17 and No.18 exist.

Good point. Maybe at the end of the day he just caved under pressure and decided to use a random name for the character, since he essentially turned into a toss-away.

Tanooki Kuribo · Post by **Tanooki Kuribo** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 1:59 pm

I always figured since Akira Toriyama sometimes liked to use English words, Gero was ment to be a pun of gears as in andoids\robots... or somthing.

But hey, thats just me.

Timo · Post by **Timo** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 5:44 pm

Tanooki Kuribo wrote:I always figured since Akira Toriyama sometimes liked to use English words, Gero was ment to be a pun of gears as in andoids\robots... or somthing.

But hey, thats just me.

Me too. It would make sense.

SSJmole · Post by **SSJmole** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 6:01 pm

Horgus wrote:The Japanese clearly do not approve of frogs.

Yes they do or a Frog would not have saved the day on Namek

Super Ghost Kamikaze · Post by **Super Ghost Kamikaze** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 6:13 pm

SSJmole wrote:
Horgus wrote:The Japanese clearly do not approve of frogs.

Yes they do or a Frog would not have saved the day on Namek

That's like saying that if Ginyu switched bodies with a pile of Namekian crap, that the Japanese have respect for dung.

It was funny that Ginyu switched into the weak body of a disgusting frog. That doesn't seem like respect to me.

...though, now, it occurs to me that you were joking.

SSJmole · Post by **SSJmole** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 6:48 pm

Super Ghost Kamikaze wrote:...though, now, it occurs to me that you were joking.

I was going to say

Chibi Mystic Gohan · Post by **Chibi Mystic Gohan** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 7:35 pm

Tanooki Kuribo wrote:I always figured since Akira Toriyama sometimes liked to use English words, Gero was ment to be a pun of gears as in andoids\robots... or somthing.

But hey, thats just me.

Gero kind of looks like "gear" when it's romanized, but it isn't pronounced the same. Gear would be ギール (giiru), I think. In fact, isn't that what Giru's name is derived from in Dragon Ball GT?

Anyway, ゲロ is pronounced "geh-roh."

BlueSky · Post by **Kaboom** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 7:50 pm

Chibi Mystic Gohan wrote:Gero kind of looks like "gear" when it's romanized, but it isn't pronounced the same. Gear would be ギール (giiru), I think. In fact, isn't that what Giru's name is derived from in Dragon Ball GT?

Anyway, ゲロ is pronounced "geh-roh."

I couldn't show you the katakana or anything to save my life, but "gear" in Japanese is "Gi-a," which I know from Luffy's "Gear 2nd" and "Gear 3rd" in One Piece. "Giru" in GT is "Gill," I believe.

Chibi Mystic Gohan · Post by **Chibi Mystic Gohan** » Tue Oct 07, 2008 8:01 pm

I guess that makes sense. But how does a robot character relate to the word "gill"?

Kanzenshuu

Dr. Gero Name Pun (Puke/Vomit?)

Dr. Gero Name Pun (Puke/Vomit?)

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