The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-02-24
STRANGE ORIGIN {.
 COMMON NAMES
Thousands Of Words In Lan- guage Originated As Proper
 Names ~

If you call a man a Croesus, a Her sules, a Solon, Of an Apollo ii you say a woman is a Xantippe, a Diana or Venus, you, are, of course. aware that you are using a proper name as such. But suppose this were the opening paragraph of, novel, writes F. l.. Min nigerode in the New York Times
 Dressed in boomers, with raglan macintosh over her arm, she jumped from the hanson, and, in spite of the boycott declared by the, striking walters, burst into the cafe like charge ot shrapnel, demanded a glass of gros and sandwich. gulped them down, did Steve Brodie out of the door and into brougham." .r.
 Nearly every common noun in that paragraph began life as proper name. Trace them back and there will be found stories of eccentricity in dress; new ideas in conveyances, meanness and tyranny, invention, deeds of daring, and the origin of quick lunch.
 Their Monuments In Words
 The stories of Mrs. Bloomer and her baggy brooches; Lord Raglan and his new style coat; Mackintosh, and his raincoat; Mir. Hansome and Lord Brousham with their vehicles of strange make; Steve Brodie with his record dive from Brooklyn bridge-are all imbedded in that sentence. So in the story of Mir. Boycott, the Irish squire with the bad temper. Event ually every soul in the community left him severely alone. Servants and farm hands quit him, tradespeople refused to have any dealings with him, profession al men refused services, postmen re- fused to deliver mail. Squire Boycott had very unpleasant time of it. He was, in word, boycotted. Y | Colonel Shrapnel of the British army | was an officer and aigentleman. a Some time stationed at Gibraltar, he noted with deep concern the inefficiency of a cannon ball for taking human life, and decided that hundred or five hundred l little pieces of iron or lead fired from 1 the same old smooth bore cannon might mark considerable advance in the art of killing the other fellows. He tried it | out with much success, and the word shrapnel was added to the language. To Admiral Grogram of the British navy, a miserly old salt, we are indebt- | ed for more words than one.
 The admiral, in his desire to save pen nies, had his cape made of the cheapest sort of material, This cloth, which was something akin to shoddy, came, to be known as grogrAm. Then there is "grog." If the admiral desired to wear cheap cape that was his own busi- ness and no one else suffered in conse- quence. But he also watered the sailors rum. Variations of the word have since been added to the language, such as groggy and .grogshop. .-.,
 | Lord Sandwich, who trod this world | ly, sphere something over a hundred years ago, was first lord of the ad- miralty. He bequeathed to the world an international word. You may ask for and receive sandwich in Peking or Paris, Bombay or Berlin, Yokohama or Youngstown. ,4.m
 A Busy Mans Instruction This. .Britisher was busy chap. One day, being particularly pressed for time, he collared a waiter. led him to table upon which tempting vians--bread, but ter, cheese and other delights were placed--instructed the waiter to cut a slice of ham. two slices of bread. butter the bread and place the ham between | It was done.
 The first lord seized the eat-as-you. walk-or-work meal and proceeded on his way. The sandwich was born, and ths name of the first lord has come down associated with eggs, sardines, lettuce, sausage and thousand and one other things rather than with ships that blow the water.