from the Word Detective "Bob's your uncle" discussion:
>>Since the very word nepotism derives from the Italian word for nephew (from the practice of Italian popes giving preferment to nephews, a euphemism for their bastard sons)...<<
I did not know that.
No wonder religion gets such a bad rap.
Some might suggest that any connection between medieval Italian popes and religion is coincidental. Not me, of course ...
I've just begun reading The Illuminator (can't think of the author, and the book's downstairs). It is set in the late 1300's, and I'm getting indications that there was at that time a French pope, whom somebody(ies) in Britain was wanting to get rid of. Is this accurate, does anyone know? I haven't studied history of religion, really; I don't recall ever hearing of a pope in France.
> vaudeville circuit?
just don't ask one of them to play the pope organ....
Avignon in 1309This did lead, indirectly, to the naming of a rather marvelous wine,
Chateauneuf-du-Pape.
Someday after we retire we can look back on the show and say "Truly, those were our salad days."
There's a breeding farm for Newfoundland dogs called "Chateau Newf du Pup."