Boycott, Barbie, Leotard And Dunce: How Did These Namesakes Become Part Of Our Language? (PHOTOS)

Most of us dream of a noteworthy legacy -- our 15 minutes of fame spread on to eternity. (Un)luckily for some, the English language is chock-full of eponyms -- proper names that have slipped into general usage as other forms of speech.

My new book "Tawdry Knickers and Other Unfortunate Ways to be Remembered" reveals the dark side of immortality -- a curiously related historical collection of nasty reprobates and unwitting victims of circumstance (90 of them), all of whom have had their names imported into our language in a way that might not have made them happy. The book includes our titular twosome: tawdry (poor, virginal St. Audrey) and knickers (New York blueblood Harmen Knickerbocker) as well as notorious namesakes that we wear (leotard), protest (boycott), and gargle (Listerine). These were all people whose names became a part of our lexicon and most of them weren't happy about it.

To buy the book or read more, visit www.tawdryknickers.com. Otherwise, enjoy the sneak peek.

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Leotard

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Leotard n. a close-fitting one-piece garment worn by acrobats and dancers Perhaps the directors of the 1984 Val Kilmer comedy "Top Secret!" had Jules Léotard in mind when they featured a ballerina gracefully leaping from loin to loin in a gauntlet of male dancers, resting each time on their ridiculously exaggerated accoutrement. Léotard was a vainglorious French acrobat -- the first artist to swing from one trapeze to another -- who invented a skin-tight, one-piece garment with long sleeves to allow free movement and to display his “muscles.” As he advised men in his Memoires: “Do you want to be adored by the ladies? ... put on a more natural garb, which does not hide your best features.”

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Leotard
n. a close-fitting one-piece garment worn by acrobats and dancers


Perhaps the directors of the 1984 Val Kilmer comedy "Top Secret!" had Jules Léotard in mind when they featured a ballerina gracefully leaping from loin to loin in a gauntlet of male dancers, resting each time on their ridiculously exaggerated accoutrement. Léotard was a vainglorious French acrobat -- the first artist to swing from one trapeze to another -- who invented a skin-tight, one-piece garment with long sleeves to allow free movement and to display his “muscles.” As he advised men in his Memoires: “Do you want to be adored by the ladies? ... put on a more natural garb, which does not hide your best features.”

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This Namesake

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Tawdry? Tawdry!

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Comments

[c-tom]

02:20 PM on 10/07/2010

Fanny Adams - yeah we've all used that expression.

[anastasiabeaverhousen]

05:46 PM on 10/05/2010

And Barbie's full name? Anyone?

Barbie Millicent Roberts.

Ken is Ken Carson

[olddognewtrick]

02:52 PM on 10/05/2010

The Barbie museum?

[olddognewtrick]

02:51 PM on 10/05/2010

Leonardo does not appreciate the humor...