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There was a discussion on the show two weeks ago about Aptonyms, where someone's name matches their profession. Turns out the director of the California Department of Water Resources, who was on the radio this morning discussing the on-going drought, is named Les Snow (though to be fair he probably goes by Lester).
Then there's Madoff who made off with people's money. I knew a sheriff whose name was Mr. Sheriff (did his name influence his career choice?). There's William Wordsworth, Martin Short (whose name matches his diminutive height, not his profession), Bill Medley of The Righteous Brothers, Margaret Spellings (Secretary of Education under Bush), Al Gore worked a bit in his family's cattle business, and my favorite, Thomas Crapper, a rather successful 19th-century plumber who held 9 patents for toilet improvements (he did not actually invent the flush toilet as some say).
I've always wondered if the modern-days terms with which with Mr Crapper's name is aptonymous, are in fact, eponymous, i.e. that Mr Crapper came first, and the "terminology" has its etymological roots in his name. I.e. the WC became the Crapper, then lost the capital C, then got "verbed" by dropping the -er. Any way of verifying this?
Martha Barnette
Grant Barrett
Grant Barrett
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