英语词汇his name is mud的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

his name is mud. Dr. Samuel Alexander Mudd (1833–83), a Maryland physician and Confederate sympathizer, set the bro- ken left leg of Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth, who escaped from Ford’s Theater by leaping to the stage from President Lin- coln’s box, breaking his leg when he landed. Dr. Mudd had nothing to do with the assassination or any escape plot, but in the hysteria of the moment he was sentenced to life imprison- ment, though President Andrew Johnson pardoned him in 1869. Mudd’s name (robbed of a d) has ever since been associ- ated by many with the phrase his name is mud, and most unde- servedly so. In the first place, this is a British phrase, not an Americanism. Second, according to Eric Partridge’s highly re- spected Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (1961 ed.), his name is mud is first recorded in 1823 England, 10 years before Mudd was born, and is probably a few years older. The 1823 quotation Partridge gives is: “ ‘And his name is mud!’ ejac- ulated upon the conclusion of a silly oration. . . .” Partridge’s definition of the phrase is the same as most American defini- tions: “one has been badly defeated, one is in utter disgrace.” Rather than being inspired by poor Dr. Mudd, the expression was almost certainly suggested by the universal dislike or even loathing of plain old mud, which has never been exactly popu- lar with humankind.

词汇	his name is mud
词源	his name is mud. Dr. Samuel Alexander Mudd (1833–83), a Maryland physician and Confederate sympathizer, set the bro- ken left leg of Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth, who escaped from Ford’s Theater by leaping to the stage from President Lin- coln’s box, breaking his leg when he landed. Dr. Mudd had nothing to do with the assassination or any escape plot, but in the hysteria of the moment he was sentenced to life imprison- ment, though President Andrew Johnson pardoned him in 1869. Mudd’s name (robbed of a d) has ever since been associ- ated by many with the phrase his name is mud, and most unde- servedly so. In the first place, this is a British phrase, not an Americanism. Second, according to Eric Partridge’s highly re- spected Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (1961 ed.), his name is mud is first recorded in 1823 England, 10 years before Mudd was born, and is probably a few years older. The 1823 quotation Partridge gives is: “ ‘And his name is mud!’ ejac- ulated upon the conclusion of a silly oration. . . .” Partridge’s definition of the phrase is the same as most American defini- tions: “one has been badly defeated, one is in utter disgrace.” Rather than being inspired by poor Dr. Mudd, the expression was almost certainly suggested by the universal dislike or even loathing of plain old mud, which has never been exactly popu- lar with humankind.
随便看	gaelic words in english gaff gaffer gaga gag rules gainsborough hat galah galahad galatea galaxy galenical galilean mechanics galilean telescope gallium galliwampus gallup poll galon galoot galore galumph galvanic galvanism etc gam gamalielese gamble away the sun before sunrise