Apr 27, 2025
This week¡¯s theme
Dickensian eponyms
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AWADmail Issue 1191
A Compendium of Feedback on the Words in A.Word.A.Day and Other Tidbits about Words and Language
Sponsor¡¯s Message: ¡°A Classical Education is priceless. Which is why we¡¯re
offering ours for free.¡± Old¡¯s Cool Academy Back-to-Basics Summer Camp
starts July 1st. .
From: Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)
Subject:
In this week¡¯s A.Word.A.Day I asked our readers what fictional character
they would like to turn into an eponym. Here¡¯s a selection from the
responses.
My candidate for eponym is (Kenneth)
Widmerpool, the main character in
Anthony Powell¡¯s 3,000-page, 12-novel cycle,
A Dance to the Music of
Time. He is a spectacularly, wonderfully, exuberantly loathsome character
who reinvents himself so many times, so many ways, that it staggers the
imagination. Nobody much likes him, with good reason, but by sheer force of
will, he achieves great success -- for a while. I once had a Solomon Islands
eclectus parrot baby I named Widmerpool, but he escaped the house. So,
a Widmerpool would be a laughable, ridiculous figure who surprises you. A
little, but only a little, like Trump.
-Ben Silverman, Playas de Rosarito, Mexico (bajabensilverman gmail.com)
Spock: Logical, not emotional.
After Mr. Spock of
Star Trek.
-Oberon Zell, Asheville, North Carolina (oberon mcn.org)
Tom Parsons: Someone who consistently works against their own best interests;
a happy conformist who is making it clear to everyone that he¡¯s happily
conforming, to keep himself safe from the judgement of other conformists.
Everybody who reads
1984 thinks they would be Winston Smith and not Tom
Parsons. Until the cage of rats.
¡°He loved Big Brother¡± is the most soul-crushing final line in literature.
-Bill Young, Vernon, Connecticut (billsplut gmail.com)
Yossarian: A person who seems paranoid but isn¡¯t, because people really
are out to get him.
After Capt. John Yossarian in Joseph Heller¡¯s novel,
Catch-22.
-Jim Distelhorst, Edmonds, Washington (jim.distelhorst gmail.com)
Marlowe: To investigate someone or something of dubious character.
After my favorite character in fiction, the down-at-the-heels private
detective Philip Marlowe.
-Tom Furgas, Youngstown, Ohio (tofu4879 gmail.com)
Leibowitz: To study diligently.
After the monks in Walter M. Miller Jr¡¯s classic sci-fi novel
A Canticle
for Leibowitz who spend centuries preserving the work of Isaac Edward Leibowitz,
the patron of their order.
-David Santangelo, Stevens Point, Wisconsin (dcsantangelo2005 comcast.net)
Rick Blaine: to do the right thing in a difficult situation -- despite
great personal cost.
After Rick Blaine, owner of Rick¡¯s American Caf¨¦ in the film
Casablanca,
who did the right thing in giving up Ilsa to support the work of Laszlo
fighting the Naz¦És.
Example: President Biden rick blained when he withdrew his candidacy in
the 2020 election, and threw his weight behind Kamala Harris, hoping to
achieve a Democratic victory over Donald Trump.
-Brenda J. Gannam, Brooklyn, New York (gannamconsulting earthlink.net)
Snopes: A person lacking either conscience or ethics who achieves power
and riches for his own needs.
In his book
The Hamlet William Faulkner creates the quietly cunning
Flem Snopes, who quietly but effectively gains control of the riches
and property of an entire community. Gradually but surely squeezing out
more ethical competitors, he smothers what is good and traditional in
the local culture. (All three volumes of the Snopes Trilogy are challenging
reading in any decade, but perhaps very well-suited for the present!).
-Dave Campbell, Dayton, Washington (museumofdave gmail.com)
Scout: An extremely good-hearted, empathetic, thoughtful, confident, and
highly intelligent tomboy in the best and most positive sense of the word.
After Scout, one of my favorite characters in fiction, in
To Kill A
Mockingbird from Harper Lee.
-Gary Vollmer, Kassel, Germany (gary.vollmer arcor.de)
Javert: A person who sticks wholly to the letter of the law, for whom everything is
only black & white and who has no real kindness or forgiveness for anyone
who¡¯s made a mistake.
After the police inspector in
Les Mis¨¦rables. There are no second chances
with a Javert. Of course, in the end, a Javert always self-destructs,
even though we may not be around to see it.
-Margaret Breuer, Sarasota, Florida (mabreuer0519 gmail.com)
Granny Weatherwax: a confident woman who defends others as needed.
After Granny Weatherwax, a character from Terry Pratchett¡¯s wonderful
Discworld.
-Lauren Mulcahy, Cape Town, South Africa (gorlockza yahoo.com)
Email of the Week -- Brought to you by Hamlet, Beauty, Pistons, and Fishing. .
When my wife and I are watching a comic scene on television or at a play and
the main character gets into a pickle that grows ever more absurdly worse
as the scene progresses, we often say, ¡°Oh, boy. I can¡¯t watch. That¡¯s too
Lucy.¡± The reference is to the many antics and ridiculous lengths of the late
comedienne Lucille Ball on the television hit from the 1950s,
I Love Lucy,
such as the infamous scene (, 3 min.) in
the chocolate factory¡¯s wrapping department.
We also use the eponym to describe an appliance that goes awry, like so
many did in Lucy¡¯s home. For example we had a ¡°Lucy toaster¡± that would
pop the finished toast high up in the air, requiring a bit of acrobatics
to catch it before it hit the ground. And we had a ¡°Lucy washing machine¡±
that tended to get so badly out of balance it would walk across the room
and ooze prodigious amounts of soap bubbles out from around the lid.
I think Dickens would approve.
-Terry Stone, Goldendale, Washington (cgs7952 bellsouth.net)
Kirkify: To talk an overwhelmingly powerful adversary to death when all
else fails. From Captain James T. Kirk of the starship Enterprise.
(, 9 min.)
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)
I have
Sherlocked, but it was when I was looking for something for my wife
who had been on the couch feeling ill. I checked everywhere, tearing the
couch apart, searching on and under the coffee table, in the refrigerator?!
Finally, I announced that it had to be under the couch since it was nowhere
else. With a flourish, I checked and there it was!
-Steve Reinheimer, Lake Placid, New York (sreinheimer gmail.com)
Hermione: A very clever person.
After Hermione Granger, a character in JK Rowling¡¯s Harry Potter series.
-Vivaan Jain Tomar, 11 years old, Mumbai Maharashtra (vivaanjaintomar gmail.com)
Gamgee: A true and loyal friend who would do anything, including facing
real dangers, for a friend.
After Sam Gamgee, a friend of Frodo Baggins in JRR Tolkien¡¯s
The Lord of the
Rings trilogy. Sam sacrificed much, even risking death to help Frodo complete
his mission.
-Christopher Laryck, Niagara Falls, Canada (seigeehcj gmail.com)
From: Robert Burns (robertburns oblaw.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--
Thinking that the character looked and acted a lot like Trump I did a quick
search and .
Robert Burns, Ocean Beach, California
From: Patrice Curedale (patrice.curedale gmail.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--
I was the Artful Dodger in, hmm, 7th grade. Still a child. Community
theater. Oh how I loved every moment!
Even in our tiny town we had enough talent to make magic. Our Oliver
had the sweetest treble. And Sykes was sooooo scary. Nancy was warm and
beautiful. Sigh. One of the highlights of my life.
Watching your clip of the film I thought perhaps it should run now with
Musk as Fagin, and his DOGE gang picking our pockets.
Patrice Curedale, Woodland Hills, California
From: Alex McCrae (ajmccrae277 gmail.com)
Subject: Artful Dodger and Dickens
Here, I¡¯ve envisioned LA Dodgers phenom Shohei Ohtani as a playful prankster
back in his Little League days in his native Japan, caught red-handed by
his coach stealing base pads from the ballpark. Fast-forward to 2024 and
designated hitter Ohtani¡¯s magical first season with the Dodgers when he
broke Major League Baseball¡¯s longstanding 50-50 barrier, i.e., combining
50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single season for the first time in
history.
Any avid reader of Charles Dickens¡¯ novels will be struck by his coining
of some of the quirkiest, most evocative character names in all of English
literature. Here, a pensive Dickens recalls the surnames of some of them.
Not a commonplace one in the lot.
Alex McCrae, Van Nuys, California
Anagrams
 |
| |
This week¡¯s theme: Dickensian eponyms
- Podsnap
- Turveydrop
- Stiggins
- Pecksniff
- Artful dodger
| = |
- Smug IT guy
- Finds proper (ok) manners
- Kept invested in fake gods
- Hypocrite
- Chap¡¯s deft swindles
|
| | | -Shyamal Mukherji, Mumbai, India (mukherjis hotmail.com) |
| = |
- Pompous
- Deport oneself
- Dupe¡¯s fervent shtick
- Wry pietist
- He¡¯s Mr Fagin¡¯s sidekick ¡®n gang dandy
| = |
- Self-serving, smug
- Dandy gent¡¯s fake wins
- Pious impostor
- Pretender
- Shifty-handed pickpocket
|
| -Julian Lofts, Auckland, New Zealand (jalofts xtra.co.nz) |
| -Dharam Khalsa, Burlington, North Carolina (dharamkk2 gmail.com) |
Make your own and .
Limericks
Podsnap
Trump, self-satisfied down to his core,
Is convinced that he¡¯s smart; and what¡¯s more,
In his Podsnap-like way
He¡¯ll confirm every day,
That his hair¡¯s what the people adore.
-Rudy Landesman, New York, New York (ydur36 hotmail.com)
That Podsnap will say with a smirk,
¡°I know that my tariffs will work.¡±
But his trust in his gut
Is the act of a nut
Called by some a self-satisfied j¦Årk.
-Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com)
My poor kitty has gone to God¡¯s lap;
He will find that she¡¯s quite a podsnap.
While He shouts, ¡°I¡¯m almighty!¡±
She¡¯ll shed on His nightie,
And think He¡¯s a rather odd chap.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)
Turveydrop
Without substance, but with lots of show,
A Turveydrop, as we all know,
Will be preening and prancing.
He¡¯ll for sure call it dancing;
And on everyone¡¯s nerves he will grow.
-Rudy Landesman, New York, New York (ydur36 hotmail.com)
Mr. Turveydrop, Dickens would say,
Was a model for folks in his day.
Who demonstrates how
We ought to act now?
The Kardashians show us the way!
-Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com)
Said Donald, ¡°You¡¯re surely no Turveydrop,
And you certainly have a nice curvy top.
Come to bed now, ok?¡±
Answered Stormy, ¡°You¡¯ll pay;
It¡¯s six figures to go with a ´Ú´Ç±è.¡±
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)
Stiggins
Just look at that awful red nose!
It¡¯s not only bulbous, it glows!
That Stiggins! He¡¯s lyin¡¯
While preachin¡¯ (or tryin¡¯!)
He¡¯ll be off to the pubs ¡®til they close!
-Bindy Bitterman, Chicago, Illinois (bindy eurekaevanston.com)
There once was a priest, who did toy
With a savvy, alert altar boy.
And you¡¯ll have to agree,
That a Stiggins was he;
Even though all he did was annoy.
-Rudy Landesman, New York, New York (ydur36 hotmail.com)
That Stiggins will preach about piety,
While notably lacking sobriety.
A hypocrite? Yes!
But somehow -- God bless! --
This causes him little anxiety!
-Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com)
Said Liza, ¡°You¡¯re daft, ¡¯enry ¡¯iggins;
No gent-lman, merely a Stiggins!
You¡¯re a t¦Ïsser, a twit,
A knob, w¦Ánker, and git,
And your b¦Ïllocks are certainly big-uns!¡±
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)
Pecksniff
A Pecksniff I recently met
Did lecture me sternly, but yet
As I soon would find out
He was really a lout.
Would he sell his own mother? You bet!
-Rudy Landesman, New York, New York (ydur36 hotmail.com)
That fellow lauds family life,
But privately cheats on his wife.
He¡¯s at home in DC,
As you¡¯d think he might be --
In Congress such pecksniffs are rife.
-Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com)
¡°I never will swallow your if
You continue to be a damn pecksniff,¡±
Said McCoy. Answered Spock,
¡°You¡¯re illogical, Doc.¡±
Every week those two had a
Star Trek tiff.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)
Artful Dodger
A young Artful Dodger today
Picked my pocket, and I¡¯m in dismay.
And I ask: ¡°Why the Dickens
Was I such easy pickins?¡±
We¡¯re here, not in London, I say.
-Rudy Landesman, New York, New York (ydur36 hotmail.com)
Artful Dodgers abound in the city,
And their victims are people I pity.
,
Then you should be aware
The result will not likely be pretty.
-Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com)
A pickpocket master was Jack.
For thievery, he had a knack.
¡°A true Artful Dodger,¡±
Dubbed Fagin, a codger.
¡°Now boys, it¡¯s his gift that you lack.¡±
-Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com)
¡°I¡¯m immune as the White House¡¯s lodger --
The world¡¯s number one Artful Dodger!¡±
Laughed Donald. ¡°My crew
Is safe here with me too;
Raise our flag, boys, the new !¡±
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)
Puns
¡°Take each podsnap it open and eat the peas inside,¡± read the instructions
on the package.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)
¡°If we turn the plain meaning of the Constitution topsy-turveydrop-ping all
pretense of the rule of law, we can make America great again!¡± said Donald.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)
¡°I¡¯ll bu-stiggins¡¯ b¦Ôtt for ¡®ow ¡®e treats me!¡± said Liza Doolittle.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)
¡°To be sure of freshness, before you pecksniff,¡± read the warning label
on the chicken feed package.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)
¡°If the woman ahead of thee hath of groceries a c-artful dodger for a
different checkout line,¡± the Quaker advised her friend at the supermarket.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)
The great pitcher Sandy Koufax was nicknamed by many, The Artful Dodger.
-Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com)
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
If we are to have another contest in the near future of our national
existence, I predict that the dividing line will not be Mason and Dixon¡¯s
but between patriotism and intelligence on the one side, and superstition,
ambition, and ignorance on the other. -Ulysses S. Grant, military commander,
18th US President (27 Apr 1822-1885)
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