"Joker"

Geoffrey Steven Nathan geoffnathan at WAYNE.EDU
Thu Apr 25 22:28:53 UTC 2013


Do not forget also Timur's role in fathering Calaf, and then wandering with him into Peking where Calaf gets himself into plenty of trouble.

Geoff

Geoffrey S. Nathan
Faculty Liaison, C&IT
and Professor, Linguistics Program
http://blogs.wayne.edu/proftech/
+1 (313) 577-1259 (C&IT)

Nobody at Wayne State will EVER ask you for your password. Never send it to anyone in an email, no matter how authentic the email looks.

----- Original Message -----

> From: "Victor Steinbok" <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Sent: Thursday, April 25, 2013 6:12:21 PM
> Subject: Re: "Joker"

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Re: "Joker"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Not sure about Tamerlan, but Timur is a fairly common Russian name as
> well as name used in North Caucasian region (both Christian and
> Muslim
> groups) and in Central Asia. Timur is less associated with Tamerlane
> than with a popular book by an author who wrote a number of books for
> children (I would estimate for 8-13 year olds, but that's only a
> rough
> estimate). I just checked Wiki and they credit him with "Timur
> movement" among "pioneers". He was covering the front as a war
> correspondent, got caught with the troops in an encirclement, joined
> the
> partisans and soon died in combat. (or so we are told) Of course, he
> named his son Timur (not sure if it was before or after the book, but
> likely the son was the inspiration for the book).

> VS-)

> On 4/25/2013 3:56 PM, Cleve Evans wrote:
> > I'd just like to point out that in the absence of either direct
> > information from the person himself or his parents, and without
> > knowing anything about how common the name Tamerlan has been
> > historically in Chechnya and Dagestan, the idea that Tamerlan was
> > some sort of "burden" this guy had to "live up to" may be just as
> > silly as speculating that the actions of an American named
> > William, George, or Al have something to do with trying to "live
> > up to" the memory of William the Conqueror, George Washington, or
> > Al Capone.

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