词汇 | norfolk howard |
词源 | Norfolk Howard. There are many notable name changes in history. One of the most famous among them would have to be the change made by Italian Cardinal Grugno in 1009, which began the custom of popes taking a new name on ac- cession. The cardinal had an excellent reason for adopting the name Sergius IV; Grugno means “swine snout” in Italian. Usually people do have good reasons for legally changing their names—like C. J. Crook who changed his name to C. J. Noble. This type far outnumbers the logically unaccountable changes like W. Jones to W. Smith (1798). Sometimes even the most logical name changes backfire, though. On June 26, 1862, Joshua Bug of Norfolk, tired of his “base” name, took an ad in the London Times announcing that he would henceforth be known as Norfolk Howard, this being one of England’s most aristocratic names. His countrymen soon foiled the poor man’s grandiose plans for metamorphosis, however, dis- playing the British sense of humor so many say doesn’t exist and adopting Norfolk Howard as a slang synonym for “bedbug.”See official monster raving loony party; zippity-doo-dah. |
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