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Post by Sue M-V on May 25, 2008 20:53:15 GMT
I was always rather amused by the name of the head of the tax office in Uxbridge who signed his demands for payment: B. Quick.
My brother's brother-in-law's mother-in-law (honestly!), who was an arrogant and unbearable ... person, was called Mrs Proudfoot.
My second ever teacher, who was a wizened old female with a swarthy, wrinkled skin, who smoked like a chimney, was called Miss Woodbine.
If you want fictitious ones as well, my favourite is the firm of second-hand car salesmen (I think) called Fleeceham & Scarper.
Sue
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Post by Pete on May 25, 2008 21:14:15 GMT
I was always rather amused by the name of the head of the tax office in Uxbridge who signed his demands for payment: B. Quick. Sue Which reminds me of a tax inspector I worked with some years ago, called D. Money.
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Post by Barry on May 25, 2008 21:17:05 GMT
Not an aptronym exactly, but there used to be, in my part of London, a funeral director's called Ernest Noade. The strapline (etched in gold on every shop window) was 'Economy with Refinement'. Something wonderfully yesteryear about it, I think. Alas, the business has, I think, been taken over, as all the shops seem to have disappeared ...
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Post by Trevor on May 26, 2008 9:24:48 GMT
Former registrar of Births Marriages and deaths in my home town: Mrs De'ath.
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Post by Verbivore on May 26, 2008 10:39:37 GMT
TfS: Thanks for the link (which also led to other links on the topic) - good reading! And I'm reminded of the name of the gastroenterologist who failed to find the diagnosed cancer in my adoptive father in 1960. (After four major exploratory operations the old man died, and his post-mortem report stated that there wasn't a cell of his body not riddled with cancer.) The surgeon's name? Dr Fehl (pron. Fail). Now there's an aptronym! ;D
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Post by Dr Mildr on May 26, 2008 11:48:09 GMT
The medical reference reminds me of the odd things people say. I sat next to someone on the bus on Saturday who insisted on telling me all about her medical problems (diabetes and general disability - she was VERY large and drank Coke and ate a large packet of crisps, and was looking forward to fish and chips at her destination, but the lack of heeding public health messages is another issue) which led to how her parents had died. Her father died of heart disease, but her mother, who had a hole in the heart (apparently) died of natural causes. I'd say heart disease was natural. it's not unnatural, like a road traffic accident (RTA) is it? Am I being over picky about the use of words? Or do I use words differently form the 'general public' because of my training/background? What is a natural cause of death as opposed to an unnatural one? As you might imagine, I had a very informative bus journey!
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Post by Pete on May 26, 2008 12:02:53 GMT
Her father died of heart disease, but her mother, who had a hole in the heart (apparently) died of natural causes. I'd say heart disease was natural. it's not unnatural, like a road traffic accident (RTA) is it? Am I being over picky about the use of words? Or do I use words differently form the 'general public' because of my training/background? What is a natural cause of death as opposed to an unnatural one? As you might imagine, I had a very informative bus journey! When I was at medical school (oh, so long ago), we were taught about listening to the way people talk about their symptoms, in large part because many of our less educated patients would not have the same facility with language as we. So, for example, a common phrase one heard in Casualty was "I've got a gastric stomach"!
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Post by Pete on May 26, 2008 12:05:46 GMT
I can see why death by RTA might not be called "natural causes". But what about being eaten by a crocodile or hit by a falling tree in a storm? They seem pretty natural causes to me. ;D
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Post by Dr Mildr on May 26, 2008 12:28:16 GMT
Yes, I guess so. I've had some experience of people talking about medical conditions, but far more experience reading about them. I think I've long had some sort of (inner) conflict of the use of the term 'natural causes', and I think the lady in question might have been trying to impress me in some way with her choice of, what was to her, some 'posh' language. To me natural causes is what a coroner might use, but there is always some underlying reason. The ICD (any version) doesn't have natural causes as a classification (as far as I know).
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Post by Barry on May 26, 2008 17:53:08 GMT
I'm with you, Dr M.
I've remembered another aptronym. A friend of mine used to live in Germany (he came back with several amusing stories, most of which are too blue to repeat), but one of his favourite moments was overhearing an announcement at Frankfurt airport. It was in German, but the gist was:
"Would Mrs Altzheimer please come to the information desk, as her lost property has been found"
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Post by Paul Doherty on May 26, 2008 18:16:50 GMT
I suspect she was repeating what she had been told.
Natural causes contrasts with, say, homicide. As you say, a coroner's term.
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Post by Barry on May 26, 2008 19:16:06 GMT
Or, indeded, the splendidly ambiguous 'death by misadventure'
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Post by Pete on May 26, 2008 20:13:25 GMT
Or, indeded, the splendidly ambiguous 'death by misadventure' As opposed to death by adventure: Scott of the Antarctic, for example. ;D
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Post by Tone on May 26, 2008 21:00:06 GMT
>What is a natural cause of death as opposed to an unnatural one?<
Seems that, these days, getting stabbed is pretty natural.
But "natural" is pretty meaningless these days: "This drink is very healthy -- it's made with only natural ingredients." That'll be mandrake, belladona, ... then?
Tone
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Post by Barry on May 26, 2008 22:01:00 GMT
I recall the first (and, actually, only) time I was given a bottle of Green Chartreuse by a kind friend who came for Christmas dinner. "It won't do you any harm", he said, with his tongue firmly in his cheek, "it's made from flowers by monks".
Green Chartreuse, of course, has one of the highest alcohol contents of any liqueuer - in contrast to its yellow cousin (which my father usually describes as 'a ladies' drink').
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