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Names: My newspaper column -- last three links restored


Ormond

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  • 2 weeks later...

But I really want to know how "Johnson" become slang for a man's block and tackle?

Well, it's been in use since 1863 -- the first written reference so far found is in Walter Cheadle's book Journal of a Trip Across Canada. Although Cheadle was British himself, the slang term is mostly used in North America and perhaps Cheadle heard the term from a Canadian.

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Interesting there's such a transatlantic discrepancy in the use of Louise. It's my middle name - half the Caucasian girls born in 1980 in the UK seem to have it as a middle name (half the rest have either Elizabeth or Anne as a middle name). I never considered it as being potentially unusual.

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Here is a link to today's column. My life has still been crazy this fall -- and I will also admit that I'm sometimes a bit embarrassed by how they've edited the column lately. But I will try to post some more links to other columns of October and November later this week.




http://www.omaha.com/living/cleveland-evans-know-joe/article_253ac62f-b939-57c7-87bc-2f22a90caf05.html


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Good ole' Joe. Solid name.



As an aside, I was always curious as to why the local Czech population celebrated St. Joe's Day. He's not their patron saint and I could never find an explanation. Recently I took a class from a native Czech and was able to ask about it. She was puzzled and knew nothing about it. A few weeks later she pulled out a calendar and explained the concept of Name Day - celebrating the Saint's Feast day that corresponds with your own name. (I'm not religious, so this was new to me). Anyway, something clicks and I find an old newspaper story talking about how popular Josef is as a name among Czech descendants and how it's become a community celebration.



It may be obvious in retrospect, but no one talks about the connection to personal Name Day celebrations, and since I had never heard of that tradition before, I didn't have all the puzzle pieces. It had been bugging me for sooo long!


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  • 2 weeks later...
I love this topic. If you ever have time and interest and since Christmas is nigh, I would very much love to know what you know about my father's name, Baltasar. Common knowledge has it that it is the name of one of the three Magi or Wise Men, but I'm not sure it's mentioned in the New Testament. Baltasar or Belchazer. I'd love to know. Thank you. :)
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  • 3 weeks later...

Here are links to my last two columns. I wrote the first one because of a request by my friend Helen Jordon. Then the editor of the column suggested I write the second one. I told him "I don't know if I should write two related to UNL football in a row." He told me "You can never write too much about football in Nebraska." So here they are:



http://www.omaha.com/living/cleveland-evans-a-prince-of-a-name-for-husker-fans/article_b0f024c0-8e9b-50df-9c4a-d6c77aba3934.html



http://www.omaha.com/living/cleveland-evans-riley-has-medieval-roots-and-modern-appeal/article_5b0e52e9-3e80-539a-9f4d-123d0252c2a5.html


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