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stranger
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stranger
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Is there a word that describes the situation where a person's last name reflects the prson's occupation? Examples person Cook is a chef, person Hammer is a carpenter.
Thank you
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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It's called an aptronym or sometimes aptonym. Our man tsuwm has it on his Worthless Word For The Day site. You'll have to scroll down to it.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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It's called an aptronym... You'll have to scroll down to it. or not - link
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Depending on whose link you follow.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Aptronym makes me think of atropine (from atropa belladonna) , a famous poison through time.
Did more people than I notice that reading the Active Topics since the last update is often quite funny, such as:
" Originally Posted By: tsuwm or not" - link Depending on whose link you follow."
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veteran
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veteran
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Click and Clack, the Tappet brothers, on the pbs radio program "Car Talk" always sign off with each saying "Don't drive like my brother!" and then give a list of credits that runs something like this: Accounts Payable Administrator - Imelda Czechs Asst. Fleet Manager - Lisa Carr Asst. Transportation Coordinator - Orson Buggy Auto Seat Tester - Fitz Matush Chief Legal Counsel - Hugh Louis Dewey of Dewey, Cheetham & Howe Child Transportation Specialist - Minnie Van Driver Crash Tester - Hope Anna Prayer Director of Automotive Security - Boris Karlarm Director of Purchasing - Lois Bidder Exhaust Manifold Specialist - Manny Burns Head of Front Desk Security - Constance Noring Lug Nut Specialist - Tad Tolouse Manager of Automotive Accessories - Francis Ford Cupholda Mechanic's Assistant - Hannah Twomey New Truck Reviewer - Zbigniew Rigg Official Spokesperson - Howie Vasive Personal Makeup Artist - Bud Tuggli Press Secretary - Don B. Zonozi Public Opinion Pollster -Paul Murky of Murky Research Puzzler Tester - Otis S. Hard Russian Chauffeur - Picov Andropov Safety Officers - Mort & Fay Tality Shop Foreman - Luke Bizzy Staff Fact Checker - Neera Nuff Statistician - Marge Innovera Wardrobe Advisor - Luke Howard Fitzhugh snagged from: http://www.squidoo.com/thetappetbrothers
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Apt. And clever. I am one who usually reads credits, especially
at movies, stay 'til the very end. Learn a lot that way.
It is too bad TV credits are so small and zip by so fast.
----please, draw me a sheep----
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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from the Nitpicking Dept: PBS is television. NPR is radio. 
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Carpal Tunnel
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According to the FallbFeind there also is a PBS radio program. Ah, why not?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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According to the FallbFeind there also is a PBS radio program. Ah, why not? Because PBS is television. Car Talk is an NPR program. It's not uncommon for people who spend more time watching television than they do listening to the radio to conflate the two and call them both PBS. Frequently the local PBS station has the same call letters as the NPR station so it's easy to do.
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stranger
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stranger
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These all seem to be jokes, though. How about real words that were occupations and became names, and that, today, hang on as names only. Such as Fletcher, Bowyer and the like?
Pegleg
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The real aptonyms , such as Baker, Carpenter, Farmer, are dating back to the Old Days, when families called themselves after their profession: John Baker, John Carpenter, ( ) and many John Farmers. All Western languages have those names. From long before the days where Napoleon decreed that those who didn't have a surname should choose one. There's lots of people called " de Boer", Bakker, Timmerman, van Houten (of wood), van Dijk (of the dike) where I live. Native speakers may have better answers for American-English names. And welcome!
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Carpal Tunnel
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formerly known as etaoin...
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old hand
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old hand
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or not - http://home.comcast.net/~wwftd/abc.htm#aptronym uh huh, the old modify the URL to point to the entry trick!
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Carpal Tunnel
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oh, you make it sound.. nefarious, when alls I did was copy the OneLook pointer. (aptronym has a onelook number of seven(7). ; )
edit: and aptonym has ON of three(3).
Last edited by tsuwm; 12/08/2009 9:28 PM.
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old hand
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old hand
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oh, you make it sound.. nefariousNo intent, its a trick I discovered whilst playing an online game. Heres a link if you feel up to a challenge.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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These all seem to be jokes, though. How about real words that were occupations and became names, and that, today, hang on as names only. Such as Fletcher, Bowyer and the like?
Pegleg Never mind these Nefariosi. I have a favorite Fletcher: Mrs. amateur detective Jessica Fletcher, who looks a lot like my eldest sister. (olly) is there really a beyond beyond the howling second level?
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old hand
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old hand
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(olly) is there really a beyond beyond the howling second level?
There are 140 levels. Its a bit of a sucubus though and I got bored after the first ten.
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addict
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addict
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Never mind these Nefariosi. I have a favorite Fletcher: Mrs. amateur detective Jessica Fletcher, who looks a lot like my eldest sister. ever-so-mildly-disappointed-though-not-unexpectedly-e
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Wow! I didn't do very well at the game (no surprise there), but I did discover that by holding down Ctrl and then pushing + or - over on the number pad, whatever's on the screen gets larger or smaller! Who knew?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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CTRL+ and CTRL- work on my home Ubuntu/Firefox machine and my work WinXP/Flock machine. CTRL mouse-wheel also works on my work machine but not at home.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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>CTRL mouse-wheel also works
best to be a little careful using this, as you may have trouble getting back to where you started (or, remember that CTRL-0 does a reset).
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Yeah, I always did have trouble getting back to start. Thanks for the CTRL-0 tip. (Weird. The zero in the Reply window has a dot in the center, but the one in the Preview doesn't.)
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Carpal Tunnel
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ever-so-mildly-disappointed-though-not-unexpectedly-e "disappointments are steadfast appointments throughout life"
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old hand
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old hand
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Did anyone notice that the game page says "Only xx people have been certificated for finishing this game.", and if you click on "certificated" it takes you to a facsimile document which states:"This certificates that..." Does that make the document a certificator?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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The OED has citations for the verb certifcate in this sense back to 1818. The OED's definition for certificator is the giver of the certificate (noun) not the certificate itself. This would make sense as the document is merely a symbol of the certification.
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