Plonka Trivia

Below you will find my collection of Plonka trivia. If you have corrections or additions please send them! Please include a source, regardless of its trustworthiness.

Dave Plonka

Table of Contents:

Plonka Trivia
    Plonka: the band
    Plonka: the game
    Plonka dot com
    "What a plonka!"
    fluky plonka
    Plonka Slang
    Plonka: the euphemism - In the news!
    Bottle o' Plonk
    Plonka Etymology
    Plonkas in the old country
    Plonks Constant?
    Plonka TV
    U.S. Plonkas
    Plonka v. Plonka
    Plonka Terrace
    Comparing Apples and Plonkas
    Sweet Plonka
    Plonka Onomatopoeia
    Destination: Plonka
    Photographers Plonka
    Plonka for Kids
    Plonka Penguin
    Plonka Paradise?
    Nazi Victims
    Spelling Plonka
    the Plonka sum

Plonka: the band

There was band named Plonka that released a collection of christian-oriented rock music called beyondreason on CD in 1997. The band's guitarist, Tony Award winning actor Scott Waara, had earlier done a play in the midwest featuring an actress named Kristen Plonka and had mentioned her unusual surname to the band. Another member recalled that, based upon the biblical story of David and Goliath, they named themselves after the imagined sound that the stone made when it hit the giant in the head. (Goliath was slain by a smooth stone to his forehead from David's sling.)
source: http://redhare.com/babyrocks/plonka/, Mark White, Big Water Music

Plonka: the game

There is a drinking game named Plonka which tests your knowledge of all things alcoholic by challenging you to answer trivia questions printed on game cards. The boxed game is produced in the UK.
source: http://www.gamesparadise.com.au/games/drinking.htm,

Plonka dot com

Plonka Internet domain names include:

plonka.com
Since 1996, Susan Plonka's domain for Plonka Interactive, Plano, Texas.
plonka.org
Since 1999, Alexander Plonka's domain, Marshall, Virginia.
plonka.us
Since 2002, Dave Plonka's domain, Madison, Wisconsin.
plonka.sk
Since 2002, Robert Plonka's domain, Slovakia.
LaviniaPlonka.com
Since 2002, Lavinia Plonka's domain, Asheville, North Carolina.
PlonkaW.com
Since 2001, Wojciech Plonka's domain.
MarcinPlonka.com
Since 2005, Marcin Plonka's domain, Lancut, Poland.

source: whois.networksolutions.com, whois.nic.us, Uwhois.com, etc.

"What a plonka!"
The British and Australians use the term "plonka" as derrogatory slang. For example, they might say "What a plonka!" in disgust referring to an inept and annoying person. It means, roughly, a very stupid person. This appears to be a variation of the more common term plonker, which is used likewise.
This use seems to have been popularized by the popular British television sitcom "Only Fools and Horses" (c. 1981 through 1992), in which the main character Derek "Del Boy" Trotter often referred to his daft brother Rodney as "a right plonker".
source: many Internet news postings and occasional personal emails from astonished Brits asking if my name is really plonka ;^), e.g. http://www.pissedasafart.com/Juine2002.htm, http://www.thegreycouncil.demon.co.uk/pl_cover.html

fluky plonka

Gervase Markham

http://www.gerv.net/writings/advent/page5.html

Plonka Slang
Some pertinent entries from a British to American translation dictionary:

plonk noun :
cheap table wine.
plonk down verb :
drop down, as in plop down wearily into a chair, or plonk down money - finally succumb to payment.
plonker [euphemism for penis] noun :
idiot, fool, wally.
source: http://cgi.peak.org/~jeremy/retort.cgi, http://cgi.peak.org/~jeremy/retort.cgi?British=plonker

Plonka: the euphemism - In the news!
An article with the title "I'M PROUD TO BE A PLONKA" appeared on the "colorful" page 3 of the London newspaper the Sun. The humorous item read as follows:
FIRST we gave you Mrs Bonk. Then up popped Mr Twocock. Now meet a man with a saucy name to match 'em all - It's Mr Plonka!
Computer expert Vee Plonka, 25, has been suffering with the silly surname since his schooldays. And the teasing has trebled since Del Boy's favourite catchphrase "You PERRLONKER, Rodney" in the hit BBC comedy Only Fools and Horses. But undaunted Vee declared yesterday: "I'm actually proud to be a Plonka!" Vee, of Solihull, West Midlands, says his hilarious handle is common in his father's homeland of Poland.
"There are quite a few Plonkas there. It means apple tree, not slang for a bloke's private parts, like in Britain," he said. "I've taken stick all my life, and my younger brother Mark changed his name to Lowther. I'll be sticking with it - though I do get a bit fed up eith people always bursting out laughing. What the heck. I'm a Plonka and that's all there is to it."
Vee managed to find a girl willing to become Mrs. Plonka - but Suzanne users her MAIDEN name for business.
source: The Sun, Wednesday, September 9, 1987. (Thanks to Alex Plonka.)

Bottle o' Plonk
In places such Great Britain, Australia, and even Canada, plonk is a common slang synonym for wine (often cheap) or booze, as in "bottle of plonk".
source: many Internet references to plonk and wine, e.g. http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/square/fk26/localpast/90au/cann.htm

Plonka Etymology
While one true origin of the Plonka surname may never be found, it has been said that, in Polish, plon is a word having to do with wheat, and that plonka is a word for a type of crab apple tree.
source: a polish coworker of mine, http://www.reticule.co.uk/flora/content/species.asp?1740

Plonkas in the old country
The Plonka surname is native to the region called Silesia which, today, is part of the Polish republic. The surname supposedly refers to crab apple trees or land where they grow. Today, there are supposedly still a lot of Plonkas dwelling in the area of the town of Opelno (in German: Oppeln).
source: Jens Plonka, http://boards.ancestry.co.uk/mbexec/message/5538/surnames.plonka/1.2.6.10

Plonks Constant?
While not known to be a related to Plonkas other than by sound-alike pronunciation, the scientist Max Planck is the namesake of the famous Planck's Constant in the field of physics. Circa 1900, he introduced the notion that energy might consist of discrete "chunks" (like particles): so called quanta (such as photons). This concept was the basis for some of Einstein's work.
source: http://www.colorado.edu/physics/2000/quantumzone/photoelectric2.html

Plonka TV
Liz Plonka's name is seen in the credits of many television programs. She has had a long run as director of Late Night with Conan O'Brien in the United States. Quoting from "The Women of Late Night", by Brian Rose:
Liz Plonka was an experienced comedy and cable episodic director who came to Late Night with Conan O'Brien in 1995. During her nearly two years with the program, she has helped turn the show into network TV's most endearingly quirky hour.
source: http://www.biercephile.com/conan/dga.html

U.S. Plonkas
Based upon the 1990 United States Census, Plonka is the 29,815th most popular last name (surname) in the United States. Consequently, American Plonkas rarely, if ever, meet people named Plonka other than those whom are direct family relations.
source: http://www.placesnamed.com/p/l/plonka.asp

Plonka v. Plonka
In the Wisconsin Court of Appeals Caselaw, Plonka v. Plonka, 177 Wis. 2d 196 (Ct. App. 1993), is a frequently cited maintenance law case regarding payment to an ex-spouse following divorce. The Court of Appeals reversed an earilier trial court decision to reduce maintenance, stating that:
when a post-divorce motion for reduction in maintenance is presented, the nature and amount of current income-producing assets should be freshly examined together with any new post-divorce sources of income. When undertaking such an examination, the trial court must consider the reasons that form the basis of the allocation of assets in the original division of the estate.
source: http://www.wisbar.org/sections/famlaw/fcases.html

Plonka Terrace
Plonka Terrace is a small heath care facility which specializes in the care of mentally and physically challenged adults. It is located in Galesburg, Illinois.
source: http://ed-sherbeyn.com/links.htm, http://www.ltc-resources.com/state/illinois/Knox.html

Comparing Apples and Plonkas

In Poland, Jablon plonka is the name for a particular variety of crab apple tree with simple, toothed leaves, showy white to pinkish flowers and fleshy green, yellow, or red fruit. Its formal Latin name is Malus sylvestris. Commonly cultivated for its edible apples, its seeds are poisonous if ingested in large quantities.
source: http://www.reticule.co.uk/flora/content/species.asp?1740
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/poison/Malussy.htm

Sweet Plonka
From the 1930s through late 1950s, the Plonka Candy Company was in operation in Milwaukee, Wisconsin supplying candy to department stores and scraps at a discount to children in the St. Francis neighborhood.
source: Eileen Plonka

Plonka Onomatopoeia
The word plonk or plonka is occasionally used for its onomatopoetic character, as in "plinkety-plonk", "the wagon bumped up and down with a `plonk, plonk' sound", or perhaps to immitate the sound of water dripping into a bucket.
source: various web references and Internet news postings

Destination: Plonka

Plonka, Plonka Kolonia (colony), and Plonka Polesna are the names of villages in the Rudnik Gmina, Krasnystaw Powiat, Lubelskie/Lublin province of southern Poland.
source: the S.S. Friederich der Grosse ship's manifest from Bremen to New York, May 11, 1904
http://www.rootsweb.com/~pollubel/pkraw/local4f10.html

Photographers Plonka
Brian Plonka is an award-winning photographer, having many times been named Photographer of the Year. His wife Kathy is also a photographer.
source: http://www.cpoy.org/54/judges.html

Plonka for Kids

Bolek and Lolek are animated characters popular with Polish children. They are apparenly produced by someone named Plonka, making the Plonka name somewhat well-known in Poland. As an aside, at least one english translation calls the characters "Bennie" and "Lennie".
source: Daniel Plonka
http://www.aidemmedia.pl/english/prod_bil_pam.htm

Plonka Penguin

Award-winning UK cartoonist Mike Payne has created a cartoon character named Plonka Penguin. source: http://www.payne.co.uk/profile.htm

Plonka Paradise?

The popular british situation comedy "Are You Being Served?" spun-off a movie in which the characters travel to the fictional location of Costa Plonka, Spain. Made in 1977, at the height of the sitcom's popularity on British television, one reviewer described the film thusly: "The zany employees of the Grace Brothers store take a fabulous staff holiday in Spain to encourage bonding and increase productivity. Unfortunately, their stay at Don Bernardo's Palace Hotel in Costa Plonka is plagued by the staff's aversion to the local cuisine, general bickering, and an armed rebel insurrection."
source: http://film.guardian.co.uk/features/featurepages/0,4120,520492,00.html

Nazi Victims
Plonka is amongst the tens of thousands of surnames of those who were murdered by german medical doctors during atrocities committed between 1939 and 1948.
source: http://www.iaapa.org.il/46024/Claims, http://www.iaapa.org.il/46024/claims_list_Pi-Py

Spelling Plonka
In Poland, "PLONKA" is written with a letter that looks like "L" with a slash through it. This and "L" are two different letters in the polish alphabet. However, on the Internet it is common to use them interchangably when polish fonts are not available, as in email addresses.
Look here to see a proper example.
source: Sebastian Plonka

the Plonka sum
In the 1960s, the mathematician J. Plonka introduced a construction of sum of a semilattice ordered system of algebras. It has since became known as `the Plonka sum' and is amongst the most fundamental constructions in general algebra.
source: Involutorial Plonka Sums

This page generated Wednesday May 23, 2007.