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Things Unexpectedly Named After People

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Re: Things Unexpectedly Named After People

#251

Post by asveikau »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #244
asveikau wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They're examples of someone being nicknamed off of their last name instead of their first name? McDonald's, Hardee's. > Caesar isn't even a last name. Worked out fine for Julius.

You're going to have to elaborate. What nickname do you see in "McDonald's" or "Hardee's"? What do you mean by "worked out fine for Julius"? You are aware that Julius Caesar's surname was "Julius", right?

OK, well, I am taking cognomen as surname, as is common when referring to him today, by nomen + cognomen. Never met the man or had the joy of calling him Gaius.

There are modern people today with a surname of Caesar. Somehow, the name of the late celebrity Sid Caesar pops up for me. Wikipedia has more: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesar_(surname) -- and I know of other languages where their cognate for Caesar is also a surname.

But yes, it is common to address people by their last name as a nickname. I seem to recall it was especially common back in school, something guys did kind of informally. Plenty of reasons explained here: https://www.google.com/search?q=call+someone+by+last+name

I also recall nickname variations of various surnames. Somebody called Fitzgerald might be called Fitz. Somebody called Smith might be called Smitty. Those are two I recall from school days.

And yes clearly, McDonald's and Hardee's are named for surnames.

Re: Things Unexpectedly Named After People

#252

Post by siddharth-mv »

air7 wrote: post #69

I find this post and comments to be surprisingly delightful. I'll aggregate the scattered gems in the comments here: - Sideburns : Named after the American Civil War general Ambrose Burnside. - Heaviside function (a mathematical step function) : named after Oliver Heaviside - The Children's python (animal) : Named after John George Children. - Snowflake, AZ : Named after Erastus Snow and William Jordon Flake. - Lake…

Waterfall Glen, a forest preserve outside Chicago, IL, has a waterfall but is named after Seymour Waterfall.

https://www.dupageforest.org/places-to-go/forest-preserves/w...

Re: Things Unexpectedly Named After People

#253

Post by refurb »

sandworm101 wrote: post #191

Similar story: Kicking Horse Pass. (BC Canada) Most think it a native name, that there was some warrior or chief named "Kicking Horse" and that we should rename the pass to give it a proper pronounciation in the native language. I've seen people protest about this (1990s, pre-wikipedia) and try to locate the historical person of which there are a few with that name. The reality is that one of the guys surveying the p…

A little less exciting, but Roger's Pass (another mountain pass between BC and Alberta) was named after... Major A. B. Rogers was hired in April 1881 by the railway company to find the pass with the promise of having the pass named after him and a $5000 bonus. [1].

$5000 is worth ~$125,000 today. Not a bad reward.

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogers_Pass_(British_Columbia)

Re: Things Unexpectedly Named After People

#254

Post by thaumasiotes »

asveikau wrote: post #251
thaumasiotes wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're going to have to elaborate. What nickname do you see in "McDonald's" or "Hardee's"? What do you mean by "worked out fine for Julius"? You are aware that Julius Caesar's surname was "Julius", right?

OK, well, I am taking cognomen as surname, as is common when referring to him today, by nomen + cognomen. Never met the man or had the joy of calling him Gaius. There are modern people today with a surname of Caesar. Somehow, the name of the late celebrity Sid Caesar pops up for me. Wikipedia has more: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesar_(surname) -- and I know of other languages where their cognate for Caesar is…

> I am taking cognomen as surname, as is common when referring to him today, by nomen + cognomen.

Huh? "Caesar" is how he's generally referred to, almost certainly because the form of address to every Roman emperor was "Caesar", after him. But there's no indication that it is taken to be his surname. That would be ridiculous.

There is no pattern for the common English name of a Roman figure:

- Virgil: nomen

- Ovid: nomen

- Martial: cognomen

- Catullus: cognomen (of possible note: Martial and Catullus have the same nomen)

- Cicero: cognomen, but sometimes referred to by nomen as "Tully"

- Antony: nomen

- Brutus: cognomen

- Pliny the Elder: nomen

- Catiline: cognomen

It's purely convention whether they're known by surname or personal name.

Similarly, what are the surnames of, as they are known in English, Mao Tse-tung, Chiang Kai-shek, or Sun Yat-sen?

Re: Things Unexpectedly Named After People

#255

Post by tristor »

ladberg wrote: post #189
tristor wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tex-Mex is from Texas... that's what the Tex part is, and it's distinct from Cali-Mex, because while both cuisines originated from Mexican influence into the area using local ingredients and traditional techniques, the ingredients were different and the influences originated from different regions of Mexico which heavily influenced the cuisine. Tex-Mex originated with the Tejanos who resided in Texas while it was sti…

I've never heard the term Cali-Mex, but I'd say that Taco Bell is way closer to Tex-Mex than any other taco places in SoCal, which are generally much more authentic.

Taco Bell isn’t Tex-Mex, it’s corporatized and white-washed fast food. You won’t find Tex-Mex in California... that’s kind of the point.

I appreciate many different cuisines, so I am not saying Tex-Mex is better than Cali-Mex, just that they’re different. Bringing Taco Bell into the equation and saying it’s representative is deeply insulting to Tex-Mex, however.

Re: Things Unexpectedly Named After People

#256

Post by jobigoud »

pantaloony wrote: post #144
air7 wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sadly, I can't edit the comment anymore. Here are a few more. - German Chocolate Cake - Named after the English-American chocolate maker Samuel German. - Baker's Chocolate (popular American brand of baking chocolate) - Named after Dr. William Baker - Loop subdivision (CG term) - Named after its inventor Charles Loop. - French Hill (neighborhood in Jerusalem) - Named after British general John French. (Disputed) - Mob…

I like Mobile home especially because of affects how you write it, and how you say it.

The joys of English… Where the exact same word can have two different pronunciations depending on the context.

Re: Things Unexpectedly Named After People

#257

Post by jobigoud »

bryanrasmussen wrote: post #78
rusbus wrote: post #2

Also, the term "Guy" which is an eponym for Guy Fawkes https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/guy#Etymology_1

Whenever I think of Guy I think of that one Guy from Galaxy Quest. I don't know if he even had a last name though.

Guy Fleegman

Re: Things Unexpectedly Named After People

#258

Post by taejo »

giomasce wrote: post #74

Buses are often called "pullman" in Italy. For long time I thought it was because the pull men (and women) along the road, but instead it appears there are named after some George Pullman. Also in Italy, the loop highway around Rome is known as GRA, which stands for "Grande Raccordo Anulare" ("Big Annular Highway"), but that is just a backronym: originally it is also the surname of Eugenio Gra, the engineer who desig…

Related to "big annular": why does the Latin word for ring have a diminutive suffix (-ulus), even when it refers to big rings? Well, of course because anus came to refer to one very specific ring.

Re: Things Unexpectedly Named After People

#259

Post by yxhuvud »

riffraff wrote: post #18
tyingq wrote: post #10

There's a common story that referring to a toilet as a "crapper" was related to Thomas Crapper. Apparently, not true, despite his influence in the field. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Crapper

That is true of Sandwich (earl of) tho, which I find fun.

Cheddar, also. Which is the reason cheeses from anywhere can be called a cheddar as long as it is made the right way.

Re: Things Unexpectedly Named After People

#260

Post by jerzyt »

One of the funniest cases I know of is actually a reverse case. A French/Russian caricaturist, Emmanuel Poiré, published his work under the name Caran d'Ache, which is a french transliteration of the word карандаш which means pencil in Russian. The Swiss company Caran d'Ache "borrowed" his name six years after he died in 1909, and became on of the most renowned companies in this business. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caran_d%27Ache https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caran_d%27Ache_(company)
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