[WANGHU]

Meet the Surrey Fockers

By Tom Zillich

Meet Surrey's version of the Fockers, who've scored a trip to Orlando simply because of the family surname.

The free flight to Florida could be considered payoff for years of having to endure juvenile jokes about the familial handle. In reality, it's all related to next Wednesday's opening of the comedy film, Meet the Fockers.

The star-studded sequel to 2002's Meet the Parents sees Ben Stiller return as Gaylord Focker, whose name is a running gag in the film.

Unlike on screen, local commercial realtor Gerrit Focker and the rest of the 20-strong, B.C. clan pronounce the surname "Fo-ker," which rhymes with "poker".

Most of the local Fockers were due in Orlando this weekend for Universal film studio's Focker Family Reunion, a publicity stunt.

"It's an opportunity we can't turn down," Gerrit Focker said about the freebie trip, which involves a barbecue at the theme park and screening of the film.

Gerrit and the many other B.C.-based Fockers were held as an example by the film studio to justify the title of their new movie, after the regulatory Motion Picture Association of America raised some concerns.

More recently, Universal expanded their weekend-in-Orlando contest to include Canadian Fockers, when not enough Fockers could be found in the U.S.

Here in B.C., one resident of Terrace is a woman named Amanda Focker, whose given name adds a little something to the pun.

"Our name is pronounced very simply," insists Gerrit Focker. "You can either go hard or soft on the 'o' and it can make all the difference, and that's what the film is doing with it."

Focker is a little shy in dealing with the media, but he's good-natured enough to have a sense of humour about it all. He is proud of the name - but admits to having considered changing it on a few occasions.

"If somebody brings it up, I'll make light of it," he continues. "And when somebody asks me how I spell it I say, 'carefully.'"

Focker, who was born in Holland and immigrated to Canada in 1952, says his Dutch surname dates back several hundred years. It's a variation on "Fokker," which happens to be the name of an aircraft manufacturer.

Over the past couple of years the local Fockers have been dialed up "a few times" by curious pranksters.

"Most of the time it's from a bunch of people who get together, usually young and male with a few beers in them and nothing better to do," he says. "We've had a few calls - most of them when the video came out."

The phone book reveals other surnames that might be met with similar giggles, including Surrey's Ronald Putz. Contacted this week by the Now, Mr. Putz said his surname has not at all been the subject of jokes, despite its definition of "idiot" in Yiddish.

"It's something I don't hear about," said Putz, who noted that his father was from Austria.

Meantime, Focker says he liked Meet The Parents, and is looking forward to seeing the sequel, which stars Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand as the parental Fockers, opposite Robert De Niro as Gaylord's father-in-law.

"If your family name had to be depicted in a film," he reasons, "you couldn't go wrong with the quality of actors in this one. It must be a quality piece with a cast like that."