Fabian - from a Roman name, Fabius, which has something to do with 'bean'. Maybe the first so named was especially successful at raising them. There is a medical diagnosis,
"favism" for group of symptoms, e.g. anemia in some individuals who become sensitized to them. "Fava" beans
are very large, and delicious. But flagrantly flatulogenic.
When I see "Fabian", I always think of Shavian.
But the least admirable part of GBS was his political
philosophy. Here's a URL to an article, rather well
written, about the Fabian Society.
http://216.239.53.104/search?q=cache:uSDl-LA5W9AJ:www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Pfabian.htm+Fabian+society++members&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
Personally, I find some of his views on matters political exactly in step with my own. Here are three that express my own sentiments exactly, if more niftily than I could:
"Patriotism is a pernicious, psycopathic form of idiocy."
"Democracy is the form of government that substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few."
"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all others because you were born in it."
The first of those is one that I endorse passionately.
I always think of Shavianshows to go you, made me think of Fabio...
http://www.dmsports-wsmx.com/fabio.jpg
Patriotism is a pernicious, psycopathic form of idiocy."
Without the patriotism of a very large number of U.S. and British men, you would be speaking Japanese.
you would be speaking JapaneseDidn't you know that non-Japanese are genetically incapable of learning to speak Japanese?
In reply to:
Without the patriotism of a very large number of U.S. and British men, you would be speaking Japanese.
Presumably because of the patriotism of Japanese men.
By-the-by, Dr. Johnson's famous quip "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel" is much misapplied. He wasn't condemning patriotism as such, simply the use of it as a rallying call by certain people.
Bingley