Hyman Kaplan, or H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N as he habitually signs himself, is a fictional character in a series of well-received, humorous stories by Leo Rosten, published under the pseudonym "Leonard Q. Ross" in The New Yorker in the 1930s and later collected in two books, The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N and The Return of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N. Rosten rewrote the two books as one, with many changes, published as O K*A*P*L*A*N! My K*A*P*L*A*N! in 1976. Rosten noted that he was frequently asked if Mr Kaplan was his alter ego, and that he often felt it was the other way around.