My current domain name (boffosocko.com) came from a crazy brainstorm several years ago when I was registering a handful of domain names related to ideas in the entertainment industry. I was surprised that there were a handful of well-known and commonly used industry phrases that were freely available, so I scooped them all up. While I was doing that I noticed that the Variety-speak words related to boffo and socko were also available. In particular, I thought boffosocko.com was pretty cool and one day I’d come up with a use for it.

After a few years I decided that since I hadn’t been able to register my own name as a URL (there was a web designer who had beat me to it), I would co-opt boffosocko.com into use, and really, what could be a better name for a personal website?

“Boffo” and “socko” are neologisms in the family of Variety-speak after the well known business trade journal covering Tinseltown (often better known as Hollywood aka the Coast, aka H’w’d.)

Their definitions from Variety’s “slanguage” dictionary follow:

boff (also boffo, boffola) — outstanding (usually refers to box office performance); ” ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding’ has been boffo at the B.O.” (See also, socko, whammo)

sock (also socko) — very good (usually refers to box office performance); ” ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding’ has done socko B.O.” (See also, boff, whammo)

Incidentally, one of the first movies I saw on cable via HBO when our family first got it when I was a youth (and easily saw over 100 times that summer) was THE MUPPETS TAKE MANHATTAN. Within it, there’s a great scene where Kermit schmoozes a big Broadway producer (played by John Landis) that I’m sure must have had a profound effect on me.

Boffo Lenny! Socko Lenny!