ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS: Was there a feminine model of Tarzan?

QUESTION Was there a female version of Tarzan?

The main girl-rivals to Tarzan were Nyoka The Jungle Girl and Sheena: Queen Of The Jungle.

Nyoka was loosely inspired by a character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, author of the Tarzan stories. Burroughs had introduced an Asian heroine, Princess Fou- tan, in The Land Of Hidden Men, a five-part serial published in Blue Book Magazine in 1931, which was then collected into the novel Jungle Girl. Unlike Tarzan, this was set in the jungles of Cambodia.

Republic Pictures purchased the rights to Jungle Girl and Frances Gifford was cast as Nyoka, but they created their own story.

In the 1941 film serial, Nyoka is raised in the fictional Simbula Swamps of West Africa by her father Dr John Meredith, who is a physician to the Masamba tribe. Meredith is murdered by his evil twin brother Bradley, his partner Slick Latimer and a jealous witch doctor, Shamba, in a plan to steal the tribe’s diamonds. The story was made into 15 episodes, each with a nail-biting cliffhanger.

Jungle Girl was the first sound serial to have a female lead. It was a big hit for Republic Pictures. Nyoka The Jungle Girl was later made into a popular comic.

Nassour Studios’ Sheena: Queen Of The Jungle (1955-1956) was based on a comic book by Will Eisner and Jerry Iger. It starred Irish McCalla. Statuesque pin-up model McCalla did many of her own stunts. Sheena’s beauty, athleticism and leopard-skin outfit made her a hit.

Paul Wilson, Bristol

QUESTION Are fabric softeners derived from animal fats?

Softening agents used in fabric softeners contain substances called quaternary ammonium compounds. These are a type of cationic surfactants, molecules which contain a positively charged nitrogen ion and two or more long fatty alkyl chains.

These molecules were once produced by boiling tallow, a rendered form of beef, horse or mutton fat, with ammonium. They have mostly been replaced by palm oil-derived esterquats (which are more readily biodegradable).

When using the softener, the fibre surfaces within a garment are coated by layers of alkyl chains. Because of the low coefficient of friction between alkyl chain layers, the fibres easily slide against one another, yielding softer clothing.

Dr Ken Bristow, Glasgow

QUESTION Is it true that we routinely pronounce Mount Everest incorrectly? Are there other examples of this?

George EVEREST’S surname was pronounced ‘EVE-rest’ with the emphasis on the first syllable. But in English, the mountain is almost universally known as ‘EVER-est’ or ‘EV-rest’, with a short e sound like that in ‘weather’. George Everest had served as surveyor general of the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India, and Peak XV was named in his honour in 1865 by his successor — and the man who first measured it — Sir Andrew Scott Waugh.

U.S. children’s author Dr Seuss’s name was mispronounced so often that he gave up correcting it. His friend, Alexander Liang, came up with a poem to help:

‘You’re wrong as the deuce

And you shouldn’t rejoice

If you’re calling him Seuss.

He pronounces it Soice.’

Actors Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal have a surname of Swedish origin which should be pronounced ‘Yee-len-hay-ler’.

Robert Louis Stevenson’s fictional character Dr Jekyll is usually pronounced ‘Jeck-ul’. However, the original Scottish pronunciation is ‘Jeek-ul’, rhyming with treacle.

The inventor of the synthesiser and electronic music pioneer Robert Moog constantly had his name mispronounced. There is no long ‘oo’ sound in his last name; instead, it rhymes with the word ‘vogue’. Names are routinely mispronounced in the fashion world. The surname of American sportswear designer Ralph Lauren is often pronounced ‘lo-REN’ when in fact it is, like the woman’s name, ‘LAUR-en’.

Hermes is commonly mispronounced as ‘Her-meez’. The correct pronunciation is the softer ‘Er-mess’. French house Lanvin is often pronounced phonetically as ‘Lan-vin’, when the actual pronunciation should be ‘lohn-vahn’.

Italian label Moschino is usually pronounced with a soft ‘sch’, when in fact it should be ‘mos-key-no’. Savile Row tailors Gieves & Hawkes, are often incorrectly called ‘Jeeves’ as opposed to the correct hard ‘g’ sound.

Simon P. Lang, Salcombe, Devon