Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1908-01-21
THINGS CALLED AFTER MEN.
Names Get Into Language to Express
Ideas.

Mems names occasionally make
them famous Gf one takes the natural
and iiatterinS view of it, by getting
into the language to express new things
or methods: hut, in the end, the name
sinks tn the ignomy of "lowcr-caSe'
initial. and the man who bore the
IatrOnymic is forgotten. All but the
members of his own tribe lose sight OF
the name as a mans name, and in a
few generations the bubble fame is
pricked or dries up.
Who nowadays thinks Of a boycott"
as anything but what it is. or recalls
Capt Boycott who invountarily in
troduced the game into Ireland and
Tic word into the languag e? There is
that picturesque word maverick
everywhere used in the COW country.
Whether the word came from the name
Of the Col. Maverick who once lived i'll
St Louis and built the mansion that
Washington University for a time
used rs q clubhouse, and whether the
gentle man, whichever once he was,
kept his cattle on an island off the
Texas coast or in some other place
that was SO isolated that he thought
they needed no randing-whatever the
truth is among the various disputed
statements. it seems pretty clear that
no brand" was Mr.. Mavericks brand.
He could claim any unbranded animal,
and did. That it possessed no mark
was prima facie evidence Of his own
ership. But after a while the I'M
marked steers We're sold at the round
up and all the other owners divided
the proceeds of the sale Of the
mavericks. The claim Of ownership in
all unbranded cattle became unten-
able.
Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts was
forced to take the discredit of q word
that Is known To millions who know
not his name nor his history. When
certain Legislative districts were
manipulated as to lines Of delimitatipn
some one remarked that one OF them
looked like :. sIllamander, and the re-
joinder was that it looked moro like 4
"gerrymandcr." The thing foi' which
the word stands could hardly have
been 50 new as all that If it WIS.
then the thought 81 )uid give Us pause,
for We have since become adopts in the
art of gerrymandcring a district or Il
ward for political advantage. When
q Congress district is already hopeless
" Wrong-that is. strongly dominated
by III" other party-why, throw into it
SOM, adjacent territory that is not OF
the same political persuasion, if You
can in this way relieve a doubtful dis
trict ct al cause for doubt. Give US
q fair advantage"
over in England Il gentleman who
bore the poetic surname Banti1s in
t-oduced and pOIularized n method of
reducing the supertluous adipose OF the
human organism. What moro natura |
thar that people should soon say that
they We're "banting' to lessen their
weight. Ard 50 the verb Ito bant' Il;
used BY many who give no poorest
stared III praise to the man who de-
Viatd tie plan. Probably it will ever
h.. 80 until We reach the land.
Where the EUdyardS Sc from kiplins
And the weary are at rest.
When a word like "Eganizc," which
was jocularly put forth to express the
idea Of violent vituperation. has been
current for a few days, it dies . pain
less death. because it has filled no
reed. "Hobsonizc" was another ex-
ample Of an cphemeral vogue. But
VIXEN a new word of this sort compacts
within itself several meanings not SO
VOL expressed before in n single word
if has a good chance to live. Books
had long been extra illustrator be-
fore 1863. when James Granger pub
lished his Biographical History OF
England" but this work lent itself so
readily to extra illustration that peo-
pie began to "GrangeriZe" the book
and other books-that is, mutilate 9TH
or books by the scores. cutting out
titles, prints, engravings and manu-
script notes, which. with water color
sketches. letters. playbills and almost
anything else that could be used for
such purpose, were carefully bound
into the original book. often making
il ten times as bulky as at first.
Where TIE infrequent extra illustrator
tad been harmless the Grangerite be-
came a pest.
Names that become common words
frequently give their owners their only
hold on fame. or notoriety, they could
ever have to circulate and rattle
around in q hollow rnockery Of immor-
tality But consider the irony of be-
ing really great and then realizing
that. after all, one will be best known
ty something only accidental or an
cilary Lord Brougham, whom many
knew as q statesman, was taunted by
the Duke Of Wellington with the pre-
diction that he would be known to
rosterity chiefly by the form OF car
| riasc called q brouChar,-with a small
H." toe. "Ah. but you Will be
known only as the inventor of the We'll
! lington boots" sid Prou CHAM. Con
| found the boots. l tad quite forgotten
| thern"" was all that the great duke
could say And his bitterness was
! deepeneJ by the sure knowledge that
| IN time to come thousands of men
would talk Familiarity of the boots who
| had never heard Of his military vic
| tories.-St. Louis Globe-Democrat.