Thursday, August 12, 2010

I Thought The Fonz Was My Dad

The Fonz or my dad?

So the other day I remembered something really silly and wanted to share it with you lovely blog readers. When I was about five, I secretly thought my dad was The Fonz (Henry Winkler). As a kid, I loved watching Happy Days and my dad was tough like Fonzie. Dad was raised on the Lower East Side of New York City (before it was hip of course) and spoke like Arthur Fonzarelli. 


Like The Fonz, Dad was really into fixing cars and I remember Fonzie was also a fan of choice automobiles. Later on in life, Dad got into motorcycles, just like The Fonz! Our last name is very close to Fonzarelli. My dad's nickname was "Azz" and people really called him that. I remember thinking, "Maybe they mean 'Fonz'" ... Unlike The Fonz, Dad's signature phrase wasn't "Ayyyy" -- unless we did something wrong. He didn't wear his hair like The Fonz and I'm not sure if he had a black leather jacket, but there was just something about Dad that made me think he and the Fonz were the same person.

Isn't it funny how kids think? Do you remember being weirdly confused about something when you were a kid? Sad thing is I'm still weirdly confused about most things, but I know now that my dad and The Fonz are too different people.



27 comments:

  1. hahaha This is hilarious to me.. I swear on cheese I used to get my grandfather and Bill Cosby confused. They acted exactly alike. I really used to tell people my grandad was bill Cosby. And the weirdest part is he is white as can be.

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  2. I wanted Laura Ingall's dad, Pa as my dad.

    Sadly, that wasn't the case. And I'm pretty sure Pa didn't undress in the hallway outside the bathroom. Ack!

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  3. That's so cute! I love the silly little things we think when we're younger.

    My sister thought our dad was Hulk Hogan. An older cousin gave us a wrestling action figure, and my sister flipped out because "Daddy shrunk and is the toy box!!!!!"

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  4. Wow! That's a great memory and story Ally!
    As you know, your childhood memories are very different from mine. Maybe that's why I enjoy yours so much!

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  5. I wanted Richie Cunningham to be my boyfriend so bad. I always got really ticked off when he was getting ready for his dates.

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  6. hahah. aww, that's so cute!

    Carrie
    http://www.readmylifeascarrie.blogspot.com/

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  7. too funny! I should have been so lucky. I thought my dad was a Jewish Captain Kangaroo for a long time.

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  8. Out of curiosity, did you ever see your dad and the Fonz in the same room at the same time?

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  9. No. my dad wasn't "hip" like that! Ha!

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  10. Did you ever give your dad the Jukebox test? To me that's the real mark of the Fonz.

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  11. I used to think that Tom Selleck, Burt Reynolds and Alex Trebec were all the same person because they all had those big cheesy mustaches! I love that you thought your dad was the Fonz all grown up!

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  12. My dad was never that type of cool. He was more like Tim the tool man Taylor, or his sidekick, Al Boreland....

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  13. How funny! When I was very young, I got confused between my grandfather and Santa Claus, and between my godmother and the Disney fairy godmother :-)

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  14. I wish my dad was as cool as the Fonz!

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  15. I used to think that farts were chocolate chips.

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  16. if you grew up in southern california, you HAD to have sung the Pussy Cow song.

    the Cal Worthington auto empire used to run their commercials all the time and they had the catchiest tune that always sounded like they were singing "Pussy cow- pussy cow- pussy cow!"

    (refer to the link below for one of their commercials)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGEYCsvPJzw

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  17. Don't be too sure - the coincidences are stacking up. Have you ever seen your father and the Fonz in the same place at the same time??

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  18. I have a story by association...when we were little and moving into a new neighborhood my sister noticed a neighborhood watch sign with the Mad magazine looking bad guy and said to my parents, "Why did you pick this place to live?! I don't want to stay with that guy around!"

    She thought the sign meant the guy lived in the area and we needed to watch for him...silly sister :)

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  19. That was a cute story. My Dad was just my Dad, until my brother sent me a photo morph of my Dad mixed with Colonel Sanders and then I could never shake the association. My Dad wouldn't have been caught dead in a KFC which makes the image in my head all the more surreal. - G

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  20. I am just glad that you finally figured it out. :)
    My dad used to look exactly like Bruce Jenner before his face went all awry. My friends used to think they were the same person.

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  21. I used to think my dad was in one the picture books my mom would read to me. There's a line about "a great big bus, chuck-full of people" and my dad's name is Chuck! And there's a guy in the middle of the bus with a beard! Obviously it was him!

    He also looks shockingly like one of the dancing corpses in the "Thriller" video.

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  22. The Fonz was totally awesome back in the day...

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  23. Cute story, Ally. I don't have a similar story, though I know that Henry Wrinkler is a great guy in real life. He called and spoke with someone I used to work with at an adoptions agency and did a lot of work for a children's residential facility I volunteered at in So Cal.
    xoRobyn

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  24. Cool-and-kind Fonz would make a great dad, but not the girl-chasing Fonz who was after Leather Tuscadero. That girl had leather SOCKS.

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  25. The Fonz would be honored!
    Heeeeeeeeeyyyyyy!

    Two thumbs up!

    John

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  26. I used to think that my dad was just like Captain Kirk!

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