|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
perhaps it might prove of some interest, since we have little but nothing to go on, to know what it was that prompted this query. http://home.mn.rr.com/wwftd/
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 4
stranger
|
|
OP
stranger
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 4 |
It is one of the few remaining questions that I have to complete a trivia quiz. The reason I believe he is a Brit and thus the word to be British in origin is because the amount he frittered was in pounds not in dollars etc.
If I ever find it I will be sure to let you know.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605 |
Fearless, getting a little warmer here. Apparantly Mr. Benzon lost his money principally in horseracing. He was the "Man of the Day" in Vanity Fair Magazine, July 23, 1887 [on which a bricks-qand-mortar library may help]. See also the site wwh noted above, listing his nickname as The Jubilee Plunger.In some dictionaries is plunger is listed as having the meaning gambler. http://www.race-horses.com/news/2000/aug2000.htm; near bottom http://www.defreitasbooks.com/20vanity.html
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605 |
Shaking this dog's bone a bit more:
Plunger: One who plunges, or spends money recklessly in bets, etc. The Marquis of Hastings was the first person so called by the turf. One night he played three games of draughts for £1,000 a game, and lost all three. He then cut a pack of cards for £500 a cut; and lost £5,000 in an hour and a half. He paid both debts at once before he left the room. -- E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
tsuwm, faldage, can someone with access to OED see if the etymology of this use of plunger perhaps gives the name of this marquis as Benzon?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 163
member
|
|
member
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 163 |
The OED give the following, very helpful, etymology of the word plunger. [f. plunge v. + -er1.]I hope, Kieva, that this has cleared up any questions you might have had! 
4. slang. One who bets, gambles, or speculates rashly or recklessly.
1876 World V. No. 115. 4 The prince of plungers, with hat jauntily cocked over one eye. 1877 Besant & Rice Son of Vulc. i. i, Plungers in baccarat, badminton, loo, and opera-dancers. 1892 Jessopp Stud. by Recluse vi. (1893) 192 He took to the turf,+was a regular plunger, and got deeply into debt.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
it seems a bit of a reach going from a reckless gambler (plunger) to a "simpleton". Hermit, a 1,000-15 shot, nursing a serious injury, races from the back to the front to win the Derby. Epsom, 22 May 1867. Barely a week before the big race, Hermit pulled up with a broken blood vessel running in a trial at Newmarket. However, the rivalry between his owner, Henry Chaplin, and the Marquis of Hastings (who stood to lose £120,000 if Hermit won) ensured the colt's appearance in the classic. But with unseasonal snow flurries blowing across the Downs, Hermit's starting odds of 1,000-15 appeared a little miserly as he remained at the back of the field approaching Tattenham Corner. Suddenly he took off under the driving of jockey John Daley and at the winning post stretched out to beat the 10-1 chance Marksman by a neck. The Marquis of Hastings, it is said, went deathly pale. http://www.findonvillage.com/0123_the_obsession.htmthis seems like extremely bad luck more than anything else (but proves once again that you should never bet the farm on a sure thing). btw, I am unable to find a connection between Benzon and the Marquis. http://home.mn.rr.com/wwftd/
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Plunger: 1. a person who plunges, or dives. 2 a large rubbeer suction cup with a long handle, used to free clogged drains.
I think the guy with the long name got his head shoved in the hopper.
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,372
Members9,182
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
0 members (),
220
guests, and
2
robots. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
