"She's out there in the U.S.A. someplace with the mesmerizin variety artist she run away with, a certain Zombini the Mysterious."
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"Zombini the Mysterious"
The surname Zombini is most commonly found in Brazil. It is reminiscent of "zombie" to modern audiences and probably a small percentage of Actually Nerds in 1893. So somebody seeing a poster for Zombini the Mysterious might say, "Oh! Zombini! That's Brazilian, isn't it? So mysterious!" And then her Actually Nerd friend would snort and say, "He's probably using the stage name because it is reminiscent of the word 'zumbi' meaning 'fetish' or 'nzambi,' a snake god, both originating in Africa. Both probably popularized via Brazil, though, so you have that much correct." Then his friend would look closer at the poster and say, "Oh, his name is Luca Zombini. So, you know, Brazilian, you stupid twat. I hate you."
"mesmerizin"
By 1893, mesmerism would have retained almost nothing of its supposed medical value and been seen as simply a diverting entertainment for the credulous masses. But in the first half of the century, mesmerism was being touted as the way to make surgery painless for the patient. This lasted right up until Robert Liston's first use of ether (following the experiments of James Esdaile working out of Calcutta) when a man had a leg amputated under it, woke up, and asked the doctor, "So, when are you going to cut off my leg, my good sir?" and Doctor Liston replied (apparently famously?), "This Yankee dodge, gentlemen, beats mesmerism hollow." Apparently doctors in the 1840s were hip to the groovy slang.
I suppose I have to admit that mesmerism and hypnosis must actually work on some people if it was used to help people get through surgery without any other anesthetic. Or I could just assume that people were much tougher in the 1800s and figured, "This fucking hurts a lot but I guess it hurts less than if I hadn't been mesmerized so I should just grit my teeth and get on with it." Because I've always assumed hypnosis works because a large percentage of our population can't stand awkwardness and would rather pretend that a hypnotist hypnotized them than make the hypnotist and the audience feel uncomfortable about the hypnotist's failure. "Oh, he wants me to act like a chicken? I suppose I could act like a chicken if it would get this over with with the least amount of embarrassment all around." That's probably why they say people won't do anything they normally wouldn't do while not hypnotized. Because they're not actually hypnotized and "preventing awkwardness" is an easy second to "committing murder."
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