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Post by oubit on Jul 18, 2005 22:25:16 GMT -5
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Matthew
Full Member
Village Idiot
Posts: 230
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Post by Matthew on Jul 18, 2005 23:04:42 GMT -5
He was of of a mixture of Sicilian, Italian, Greek, Arab, French, Irish, and German ancestry. Which explains why his kids look the way they do. He appears to be Levantine, Eastern Mediterranean, and the French, Irish, and German ancestry isn't dominant.
I used to listen to Frank Zappa in the car as a kid.
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Post by asdf on Jul 18, 2005 23:12:17 GMT -5
Mostly armenoid, isn't he?
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Post by murphee on Jul 19, 2005 1:42:58 GMT -5
Mainly Dinarid. He reminds me of Vlad the Impaler. Hungry Freaks, Daddy!  |
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Post by Platypus on Jul 19, 2005 4:18:15 GMT -5
Irano Afghan
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Post by Drooperdoo on Jul 19, 2005 10:30:16 GMT -5
Frank Zappa was mainly Lebanese. Sure, like all Americans, he had other things in him as well. But the truth is: He was mostly Lebanese--and looked it. He's as Levantine-looking as you can get.
He could be used in anthropological texts as the prototypical Levantine.
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Post by Herzeleid on Jul 19, 2005 12:15:47 GMT -5
I had no idea he was mainly Leb. I was under the impression that he was mostly Italian/Greek, and always though of him as some Levantine looking Sicilian.
In one of those shots, he actually he reminded me the Armenian Serj from S.o.a.D (just a lot more dolichocephalic).
Does anyone know his precise ancestry?
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Post by nockwasright on Jul 19, 2005 12:24:42 GMT -5
All the sources I know say Italian/Greek, but wilkpedia that says "Born in Baltimore, Maryland on 21 December 1940, Zappa was of mixed Sicilian, Italian, Greek, Arab, French, Irish, and German ancestry. He was the oldest of four children, with two brothers and a sister." The fact it lists Sicilian and Italian as different voices says all about wilkpedia though.
Never heard the Lebanese thing. Any source?
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Post by Springa on Jul 19, 2005 12:48:28 GMT -5
He was not "mainly Lebanese".
This is what he says in his autobiography:
"My ancestry is Sicilian, Greek, Arab, and French. My mother's mother was French and Sicilian, and her dad was Italian (from Naples). The Greek-Arab side is is from my Dad. He was born in a Sicilian village called Partinico..."
Therefore, his arab side was probably kind of distant and maybe even just assumed. From what I've read, his father family was mainly of greek sicilian lineage. Anyway, his father was half Arab at the most, and I haven't seen anything saying this Arab side was Lebanese. I don't even think he was half Arab, it was probably a distant thing. After all he was supposedely Greek-Arab, but was born in a sicilian village and had a Sicilian sounding name, Zappola.
Frank's dad's name was supposedly Francesco Zappola, hardly the name of someone who's "mainly Lebanese". His "american name" was Francis Vincent Zappa, also not denoting anything overtly greek or arab.
Anyway, Zappa was Italian-American, end of story.
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Post by Drooperdoo on Jul 19, 2005 13:08:32 GMT -5
It cracks me up, someone listing Zappa's name and saying: "See? --It doesn't denote anything Arab!" Lebanese people are mostly Christian, not "Arab". Lebanese-American comic Danny Thomas was born "Amos Jacobs". If you asked the average nimrod what that name "sounds" like, he'd say "Jewish". Alas, Danny Thomas was a Lebanese Christian. So, no, not all Lebanese people have "Arab" names. Look at football star Doug Flutie. He's also of Lebanese extraction. How many Americans know that "Flutie" is an Anglicization of the common Lebanese surname "Faloodi"? Here's a link from the "Lebanese American Society," with a list of famous Americans with Lebanese heritage. cedars1.com/prominent/amleb.htm#EntertainmentP.S.--I'm not Lebanese myself and couldn't care less if Zappa was Lebanese. I always knew--like all Americans--he was a mix of many different things. Among those things was clearly Sicilian. Whether he's more Sicilian than Lebanese or Lebanese than Sicilian, I don't know. Perhaps his ancestors were from a Lebanese community in Sicily. What do I know? . . . All I'm saying is: He looks more Levantine than Sicilian--at least, to me. |
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Post by Herzeleid on Jul 19, 2005 15:28:28 GMT -5
He was not "mainly Lebanese". This is what he says in his autobiography: "My ancestry is Sicilian, Greek, Arab, and French. My mother's mother was French and Sicilian, and her dad was Italian (from Naples). The Greek-Arab side is is from my Dad. He was born in a Sicilian village called Partinico..." Therefore, his arab side was probably kind of distant and maybe even just assumed. From what I've read, his father family was mainly of greek sicilian lineage. Anyway, his father was half Arab at the most, and I haven't seen anything saying this Arab side was Lebanese. I don't even think he was half Arab, it was probably a distant thing. After all he was supposedely Greek-Arab, but was born in a sicilian village and had a Sicilian sounding name, Zappola. Frank's dad's name was supposedly Francesco Zappola, hardly the name of someone who's "mainly Lebanese". His "american name" was Francis Vincent Zappa, also not denoting anything overtly greek or arab. Anyway, Zappa was Italian-American, end of story. Didn't take you for an FZ fan, Springa. It's nice to know.  |
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Post by sideshowbob on Jul 19, 2005 16:14:07 GMT -5
Who cares what he was? her songs are shits anyway.
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Matthew
Full Member
Village Idiot
Posts: 230
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Post by Matthew on Jul 19, 2005 16:39:58 GMT -5
Aren't some people of Lebanese background partially from way back descended from some French, and English Crusaders who never left? I have Catholic Lebanese neighbors with the last name Jowdy (Yaadi, Yahoodi?, converted Sephardim?), and I go to Mahrajan every year, and see a variety of different looks. I know Lebanese are the most assimilated of Middle Eastern people in the US as well.
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Post by catwoman on Jul 19, 2005 17:22:16 GMT -5
It cracks me up, someone listing Zappa's name and saying: "See? --It doesn't denote anything Arab!" Lebanese people are mostly Christian, not "Arab". Lebanese-American comic Danny Thomas was born "Amos Jacobs". If you asked the average nimrod what that name "sounds" like, he'd say "Jewish". Alas, Danny Thomas was a Lebanese Christian. So, no, not all Lebanese people have "Arab" names. Look at football star Doug Flutie. He's also of Lebanese extraction. How many Americans know that "Flutie" is an Anglicization of the common Lebanese surname "Faloodi"? Here's a link from the "Lebanese American Society," with a list of famous Americans with Lebanese heritage. cedars1.com/prominent/amleb.htm#EntertainmentP.S.--I'm not Lebanese myself and couldn't care less if Zappa was Lebanese. I always knew--like all Americans--he was a mix of many different things. Among those things was clearly Sicilian. Whether he's more Sicilian than Lebanese or Lebanese than Sicilian, I don't know. Perhaps his ancestors were from a Lebanese community in Sicily. What do I know? . . . All I'm saying is: He looks more Levantine than Sicilian--at least, to me. According to IMDB, Danny Thomas' real name was Amos Muzyad Jahoob, not Amos Jacobs. Jacobs may have been an Anglicization of Jahoob. |
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Post by Herzeleid on Jul 19, 2005 17:33:46 GMT -5
Who cares what he was? her songs are shits anyway. Like your English. |
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