Levels of language & pop group names
Analysis of the name, Fatboy Slim
 The
first word of the two-word name is deviant graphologically and lexically
as it consists of what would normally be two words constituting a noun
phrase with an adjective-head structure, pushed together to make one word.
Moreover, there is also a kind of contradiction between this first word
and the second one. This contradiction has two possible variants, depending
upon how we construe the overall structure of the name.
If 'slim' is the headword of the phrase, then, as it is an adjective,
the whole phrase is an adjective phrase. This construal would make the
name stand out, as (a) adjective phrases are not normally used for names
and (b) nouns do not normally act as pre-modifiers in adjective phrases.
There would also be a semantic contradiction between the headword 'slim'
and the 'fat' morpheme of the word 'fatboy' which modifies 'slim'. 'Fat
' and 'slim' are quasi-antonyms (opposites) in spite of the fact that
the modifier-head structure of the phrase suggests that they are closely
connected.
'Fat' normally has 'thin' as its opposite, but 'slim', when used to
denote body size and shape, can be seen as a synonym to 'thin' but with
kinder connotations. [Note, however, that, as with all synonyms, 'thin'
and 'slim' are not alternatives in all contexts - we can talk of a slim
figure, but not a thin figure, and of a thin wire but not a slim wire.
If you think again about the synonymic verbs 'shut' and 'close' which
Keats chose between in the 'Eve of St Agnes', you should be able to think
of some contexts where one is appropriate but not the other.
Brian Walker, a previous Language and Style student, has given us the
following comment, which we though might interest you
"'Fatboy Slim' - could also be a play on the street word ‘phat’
- which means rich or loaded with bass (is that bassy?). I noticed this
word on the cover of a rap album I have - which claims to have/contain
20 ‘phat flavas’ straight from the streets."
[How right are we? ... One of several pseudonyms for Norman ? ... first
changed his name to become a "House Martin"... adopted Fatboy Slim in
1995. Cowboy clothes definitely a feature of ... ]
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