American observers in World War II monitoring Benito Mussolini's radio addresses were puzzled by the fact that he consistently referred to FDR simply as "Delano."
The mystery was soon cleared up by Italian speakers, who gracisouly explained that "Del Ano" is Italian for "of the anus."
[Roosevelt, who promised to meet reporters twice a week, held nearly 1,000 press conferences during his presidency. The novelist Saul Bellow once recalled walking down a Chicago street on a hot summer night while Roosevelt was speaking. Families could be seen sitting at their kitchen tables listening to the radio. Under the elm trees, "drivers had pulled over, parking bumper to bumper, and turned on their radios to hear Roosevelt. They had rolled down the windows and opened the car doors. Everywhere the same voice. You could follow without missing a single word as you strolled by."]
Sources
Karnataka Quiz Association; Time 100
