ORIGINS

 

Words named after people . . .

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Dahlia:

The dahlia flower is named after Anders Dahl (18751-1789), an 18th-century Swedish botanist. It is believed that Abbe Antonio Jose Cavanilles, Director of the Royal Gardens of Madrid, who received the first specimens from Mexico in 1791, named the dahlia after Dahl two years after Dahl's death.

Some dahlia limerick humour:

There was a young man from Australia,

Who painted his arse like a dahlia.

The colour was fine.

Likewise the design .

But the aroma, ah, that was a failure.

Alternative version:

There was a young girl of Australia,

Who went to a dance as a dahlia,

When the petals uncurled,

It revealed to the world,

That as clothing the dress was a failure.

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Mirandize:

You know how US cop shows have the cops say to the suspects “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you in court. . . .“

It's called a Miranda warning and the delivery of it is known as Mirandizing the suspect.

The word comes from the 1966 Supreme Court decision of Miranda v. Arizona which found that the Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights of Ernesto Arturo Miranda had been violated during his arrest and trial for armed robbery, kidnapping, and rape of a young woman. Miranda was subsequently retried and convicted, based primarily on his estranged ex-partner, who had been tracked down by the original arresting officer via Miranda's own parents, suddenly claiming that Miranda had confessed to her when she had visited him in jail. Miranda's lawyer later confessed that he 'goofed' the case by focusing too much on the constitutional issues (and losing sight of the jury and guilt or innocence).

Ernesto Miranda

Different jurisdictions have different forms of wording but the warnings must all contain advice by the police to the suspect that:

they have the right to remain silent;

anything the suspect does say can and may be used against them in a court of law;

they have the right to have an attorney present before and during the questioning; and

they have the right, if they cannot afford the services of an attorney, to have one appointed, at public expense and without cost to them, to represent them before and during the questioning.

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Bloomers:

Bloomers were baggy underpants for women, usually made of cotton, which gathered at the waist and below at the knees. They were worn by women during the early decades of the twentieth century but went out of style when skirt lengths became shorter at the end of the 1910s.

The term bloomer originated from a nineteenth-century garment worn by American women's rights activist Amelia Jenks Bloomer (1818–1894).

Amelia Bloomer

Anyone else think that Amelia Bloomer looks like the first Australian female member of Parliament, Edith Cowan, who is featured on the Australian $50 note

Bloomer wanted women to wear clothing that promoted freedom of movement, so she appeared in public in knee-length, loose-fitting pants. During her lifetime, most people made fun of Bloomer's progressive fashion statement. When bloomers were introduced to mainstream women as a form of comfortable undergarment in the late 1800s, the reception at first was controversial. Many men and women viewed the underwear as unnatural to a woman's form, as it had separate leg coverings. These critics preferred that women wear only layers of petticoats around their bodies.

The bloomer outfit was changed numerous times but eventually discarded because of the amount of attention given to its criticism in the press. Nevertheless, the name “bloomers” survived in women’s fashion as a generic term for Turkish-style pantaloons, divided skirts, and for the knickerbockers worn by women when riding bicycles in the 1890s.

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Mausoleum:

A mausoleum is a big tomb or burial chamber constructed as a monument. A monument without the interment is a cenotaph.

It was named after a Persian governor, Mausolus, who was in office about 2300 years ago. His own burial chamber was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World – the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. It was destroyed by an earthquake around the 15th century, but the word lives on.

The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus.

‘My ancestors — the box set!’

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Uzi:

The Uzi submachine gun is named after Uziel "Uzi" Gal (1923 – 2002), an Israeli gun designer.

Gal was born in Weimar, Germany to Miele and Erich Glas. When the Nazis came to power in 1933 he moved first to the United Kingdom and later, in 1936, to Kibbutz Yagur in the British Mandate of Palestine where he changed his name to Uziel Gal. In 1943, he was arrested for illegally carrying a gun and sentenced to six years in prison. However, he was pardoned and released in 1946, serving less than half of his sentence.

Gal began designing the Uzi submachine gun shortly after the founding of Israel and the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. In 1951, it was officially adopted by the Israel Defense Forces and was called the Uzi after its creator. Gal did not want the weapon to be named after him but his request was denied. In 1955, he was decorated with Tzalash HaRamatkal and in 1958, Gal was the first person to receive the Israel Security Award, presented to him by Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion for his work on the Uzi.

Gal retired from the IDF in 1975, and the following year moved to the United States. He settled in Philadelphia so that his daughter, Tamar, who had serious brain damage, could receive extended medical treatment there.

In the early 1980s, Gal assisted in the creation of the Ruger MP9 submachine gun.

Gal continued his work as a firearms designer in the United States until his death from cancer in 2002. His body was flown back to Yagur, Israel for burial.