Something that has always struck me about cricket players is how many of them have surnames that are just ordinary verbs, nouns, adjectives or job descriptions. In the past we've had Old, Young, Boycott, Lever, Lamb, Knott, Fletcher, Smith, for example, although that looks as if I'm being selective.
But look at the current England squad of thirty players - it includes Cook, Bell, Key, Trot(t), Foster, Prior, Flint-off, (W)right, Broad, Onions, Side-bottom, Batty and Swan(n). Even 'Strauss' is a noun - it's German for a bouquet (of flowers), meaning nearly half of them fall into this category.
Wednesday 13 January 2010
Names
My latest blogpost: NamesTweet this! Posted by Mark Wadsworth at 10:22
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4 comments:
Someone made a similar remark about one of the Thatcher cabinets - Thatcher, Baker, Clarke.......
Surely you remember "The batsman's Holding, the bowler's Willey"?
"Boycott" doesn't count, it's an eponym.
D, more to the point, they were all called "Norman".
RLJ, no, but thanks nonetheless, that's the general idea.
B, fair point, but as a kid I learned the meaning of the verb before I learned its derivation.
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