Barry Popik namecheck

[Wilson Gray]

The ancient Romans used a variation of this naming method. No doubt
everyone here recalls Quintus, i.e. "Fifth," Tullius Cicero, one of
Caesar's generals and Marcus Tullius Cicero's younger brother. The
Romans had no names for women at all, only feminine ordinal numerals
and their nicknominal and diminutive variants, for example,
"Priscilla," a nickname based on "Prima," i.e. "First (Daughter)."

-Wilson

On Sat, Apr 5, 2008 at 9:57 AM, Dave Wilton <dave at wilton.net> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>  Poster:       Dave Wilton <dave at WILTON.NET>
>
> Subject:      Re: Barry Popik namecheck
>  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>  No, the "8" is not a misprint. She's a regular reporter on the NYT staff.
>
>  Her parents are from Taiwan, where evidently it is somewhat common to add
>  numerical characters to names. See
>  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_8._Lee.
>
>  She is also credited with coining the term "man date," referring to a social
>  engagement between two heterosexual men.
>  (http://www.wordspy.com/words/mandate.asp)
>
>
>
>  -----Original Message-----
>  From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
>  Michael Quinion
>  Sent: Saturday, April 05, 2008 5:37 AM
>  To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>  Subject: Barry Popik namecheck
>
>  Someone billed as Jennifer 8. Lee (is this a misprint, I wonder, or have
>  numbers become the new initials?) writes in the New York Times online
>  today about apples, apple trademarks and legal action arising therefrom.
>  She quotes Barry Popik and describes him as a "cultural etymologist". It's
>  a neat term that I may appropriate without credit ...
>
>  http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/04/its-like-comparing-apples-to-
>  apples/?hp
>
>
>  --
>
> Michael Quinion
>  Editor, World Wide Words
>  E-mail: wordseditor at worldwidewords.org
>  Web: http://www.worldwidewords.org
>
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All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
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 -Sam'l Clemens

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