- For the animal, see aardvark.
The word aardvark has traditionally been famous as the first word in the dictionary and many encyclopedias.
Military Aviation
"Aardvark" is the official name for the General Dynamics F-111 aircraft, a long-range strategic bomber, reconnaissance, and tactical strike aircraft.
The word aardvark in comedy and literature
The word aardvark is frequently used in comedy, being considered an inherently funny word.
British comedians John Cleese and Graham Chapman wrote a bookshop skit (for At Last the 1948 Show), in which a customer, initially played by Marty Feldman, seeks out a book called Ethel the Aardvark Goes Quantity Surveying. This classic skit was subsequently performed on stage by Monty Python cast members.
In one episode of the British TV series Blackadder the Third, featuring the first appearance of Doctor Johnson's Dictionary, Edmund Blackadder notices that the word aardvark is missing from the manuscript. (Edmund had earlier come up with his own definition: "Medium-sized insectivore with protruding nasal implement.") Surprisingly, Blackadder is historically correct in this regard. Doctor Johnson's Dictionary does not in fact contain the word aardvark. Or sausage.
Cerebus the Aardvark is the eponymous anti-hero (antagonist) of a long-running satirical comic by Dave Sim.
Captain Aardvark is a character in Joseph Heller's book Catch-22 who giggles in serious situations and takes pleasure in others' pain.
