This Is Spinal Tap

:For the medical procedure, see Lumbar puncture.

The name

The band's name is officially rendered with an umlaut (two dots) over the letter "n", in satirical reference to the spurious use of heavy metal umlauts by bands such as Motörhead and Blue Öyster Cult. This letter is not found in any major language, but does actually exist in the minor Jacaltec language of Guatemala and in the Malagasy tongue, though it is questionable whether the writers of This is Spinal Tap knew this at the time.

Related Topics:
Umlaut - Heavy metal umlaut - Motörhead - Blue Öyster Cult - Jacaltec - Guatemala - Malagasy

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It is possible to represent the umlaut-n in Unicode by using a combining diatrical mark ({{unicode|"Sp?n?al Tap"}}), but not all browsers will render this properly. (The letter i also lacks a dot, presumably making it a Turkish dotless i.)

Related Topics:
Unicode - Dotless i

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The Companion Book states that the band - assuming that the word was actually spelled "spynal" - decided to call themselves "Spinal Tap" as a deliberate mis-spelling, in a style similar to that of the real-life band Stryper (and, later on, "Wyld Stallyns", the band from Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure).

Related Topics:
Stryper - Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure

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