# People names fitted in languages



## Roi Marphille

Hi to all!, 

Some people acquire notoriety in certain regions and some are wide-world known. 
We find a lot of adjectives and even verbs out of names of people such: _Orwellian, Darwinian, Columbian, Marxism_...and we have some names that we relate with some kind of activity or status;

Example: 
if someone is really fast in his/her car they call him/her _Fitipaldi_. (In Spain)
If someone is very intelligent we call him/her _Einstein_.

The other day I saw a dialogue in TV, it was something like: 
- hey, you call me to apologise before sunset!
- who are you, _Gary Cooper_? (for youngsters who don't know  , he was an American actor who used to perform the tough guy in Westerns)

It'd be interesting to list some of these names from different countries because we may find some curiosities...Sometimes we may find out that some words just come out some people who lived centuries ago...I bet there is people that know the word: _Machiavellian_ but does not know that it comes from a guy called Machiavel..do you know what I mean?

cheers
Uncle Roi


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## Laia

- Ser más tonto que Perico de los Palotes

If someone knows who was this guy, please explain it to me...


The example of Gary Cooper above... For "youngsters who don't know" is about Brad Pitt. There's a song of Shania Twain:



> Okay, so you're Brad Pitt
> That don't impress me much
> So you got the looks but have you got the touch
> Don't get me wrong, yeah I think you're alright


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## Roi Marphille

Laia said:
			
		

> - Ser más tonto que Perico Palotes
> 
> If someone knows who was this guy, please explain it to me...
> 
> 
> The example of Gary Cooper above... For "youngsters who don't know" is about Brad Pitt. There's a song of Shania Twain:


that song is indeed a good example of what I was trying to say, we kind of associate names with singularities such being beautiful (male) = Brat Pitt, being intelligent = Einstein, something violent = Tarantino...and so on..


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## nichec

Hello:
I'm sorry I don't really remember the whole conversation very well, but if you've seen the movie" Collateral " played by Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx, there is a scene when they are both inside the taxi, and the taxi driver(Jamie Foxx) has already found out the real intention of his client(Tom Cruise). Having no choice but to do as the client says, the driver(at the risk of his own life and others) starts to ask his client about the reason why he's chosen to be a professional killer. Tom Cruise starts to mention something about how his father had abused him when he was young and how one day he killed his own father because he couldn't take it any more.And then he also expresses some of his rather twisted opinions and attitude of life and his profession. Jamie Foxx starts to question him and sort of argue with him after his quite long and unpleasant speech.

Right at this point, Tom Cruise says something like" there are thousands of taxi drivers in LA, and I bump into a Freud plus Max."

As a Psychology major in the university, my friend and I love to call anyone who blames/tracks everything back to his childhood a Freud(no offence) We would say things like" oh gee, he's really a Freud " or " here comes our famous Freud " ( just for fun )


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## Fernando

In Spain a common expression for piece-of-cake tasks is : "Así se las ponían a Felipe II/Fernando VII" (Two Spanish Kings).

From the romans we have Mecenas (in English and Spanish). You have also "un Lúculo" (from the roman Lucullus, 1st century bC) meaning "bon-vivant" (old-fashioned) and Craso/Creso (a rich person), stemming from the deeds and fortunes of Crassus (another 1st century bC roman) and Cresus (a Frygian king).


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## cherine

In Egypt too we have similar expressions : 
We call *Romeo* (from Romeo & Juliette) a guy who "plays" the romantic and sensitive, say too much nicities to girls...
*Freud* : a person who tries to "analyse" every other person he meets.
*Colombo* (the detective man, from an old American series) a person who tries to look for the hidden things/facts/truth AND play the important 
*Also used* : Einstein, Machiavelli, Darwin, Marx, Kafka....

As you can say, these are all western figures but they are in fact universel. We also have "local" figures, but as i'm not sure you know them, i'll spare you the boredom


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## Outsider

*Louis Pasteur*: pasteurization. 
*Thomas Bowdler*: Bowdlerize
And, drawing inspiration from Fernando's classical examples, 
*Septimius Severus*: severo, severe;
*Crassus*: error craso, crass;
*Pyrrhus*: victoria pírrica, pyrrhic victory.


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## belén

And in Brazilian music, we have "catanear" - from Caetano Veloso


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## Anna Più

Hi,
And when somebody has a sharp nose, do you say  "he/she is very* Picassian"* ? I do it...

A.


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## belén

Anna Più said:
			
		

> Hi,
> And when somebody has a sharp nose, do you say  "he/she is very* Picassian"* ? I do it...
> 
> A.



Oh, this reminds me of our "Almodovariano"


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## Laia

And "daliniano"... when something is "surrealista"

"Aguantar algo estoicamente"... I don't know if this one can be considered as "people names", but it just came to my mind.


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## Anna Più

belen said:
			
		

> Oh, this reminds me of our "Almodovariano"


 
Jeje...this is for Rossy de Palma! One of the Almodovar girls and the best example of a picassian face! 

A.


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## Chaska Ñawi

A Luddite (after Ludd, who attacked the fabric mills during the Industrial Revolution in England, on the basis that work was being taken from humans and given to machines) is someone who abhors mechanization.

"Ma Bell" is what Canadians sometimes call their telephone company (which used to be one company, Bell Telephone, named after Alexander Graham Bell who invented the device).

Life jackets used to be called "Mae Wests" during WWII, and the name still persists in odd corners - Mae West was an actress with a well-developed bust.

Re ice hockey players:  "He's no Gretzky" / "He's another Gretzky" after Wayne Gretzky.


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## belén

And I read that the verb "to lynch" (in Spanish we have linchar) comes from an English? Irish? guy whose last name was Lynch and was lynched during a riot.
Sorry, I don't remember the exact details...


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## panjandrum

In English we have batty, bloomers, boycott, ....... sandwich, .... wellington.

For a long list of eponyms, see Wiki HERE

It seems that Lynch did the lynching, or at least encouraged it - and he wasn't Irish at the time.

If you feel like having a good search for information about Charles Lynch, start here - Lynch link 

...otherwise use Brioche's link two posts down.


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## Brioche

As well as calling a man a *Romeo*, he could be a *Lothario* or a *Casanova*.

*Cicerone* is a word for a sight-seeing tour guide, it comes from the name of the Latin writer _Marcus Tullius *Cicero*_


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## Brioche

panjandrum said:
			
		

> In English we have batty, bloomers, boycott, ....... sandwich, .... wellington.
> 
> For a long list of eponyms, see Wiki HERE
> 
> It seems that Lynch did the lynching, or at least encouraged it - and he wasn't Irish at the time.
> 
> Lynch link


 
I think this is a bit better on the origin of lynch
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Lynch"


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## cuchuflete

Lope....may not mean much to English speakers, but in regard to the Spanish dramaturge Lope Félix de Vega Carpio, 1562-1635, 


> ¡La fama del poeta llegó a ser tal que en la época era común la expresión "*Es de Lope*" para indicar que algo era excelente!



or...to call something "Lope's" was to say the work was excellent.


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## *Cowgirl*

How about braile after Louis Braile? 
Noun though, not an adjective


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## cuchuflete

How about "Benjois" as the name of the special orthography applied to both English and to French by our very own Benjy?


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## Roi Marphille

belen said:
			
		

> And I read that the verb "to lynch" (in Spanish we have linchar) comes from an English? Irish? guy whose last name was Lynch and was lynched during a riot.
> Sorry, I don't remember the exact details...


good one! I didn't know it. This is what I mean in my post #1!  
There is also this adjective: *groggy*. Originated after the _nickname_ of Edward Vernon died 1757 English admiral responsible for diluting the sailors' rum. This adjective is used in Spanish as well. 
PS:OK, it's not afer a name but a nickname..


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## Fernando

Laia said:
			
		

> And "daliniano"... when something is "surrealista"
> 
> "Aguantar algo estoicamente"... I don't know if this one can be considered as "people names", but it just came to my mind.


Estoico viene de la Stoa, que creo que era un pórtico ateniense.


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## Roi Marphille

There is a saying in Spanish to refer when someone is very old in age: 
"es más viejo que Matusalén" or "tiene más años que Matusalén" (he/she is older than Matusalén, he/she is more _aged_ than Matusalén)
This guy is mentioned in the Bible and he supposely lived nine-hundred something years which is quite a lot. 
Another saying is: 
"es del año de María Castaña". (this is from the year of María Castaña) I don't know who was she, but I bet she lived long time ago.


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## Chaska Ñawi

And how could we have forgotten sadists, sadism, sadistic ... all courtesy of France's Marquis de Sade?

Also McCarthyism - even if we aren't American most of us are probably familiar with the term (I hope ... maybe it's a generational thing by now).

And then there are malapropisms, albeit taking their name from a fictional character, Mrs. Malaprop.  One of my favourites was a couple of years ago, when I was teaching a unit on medieval Christmas celebrations.  One boy asked earnestly whether I was going to teach about Harmonica, too.
I think a gift of a harmonica should become a part of all Hannukah celebrations!

My other favourite malapropism was when somebody used the word "tentacles" when he meant to say "testicles".  One can only imagine...


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## Anna Più

Roi Marphille said:
			
		

> There is a saying in Spanish to refer when someone is very old in age:
> "es más viejo que Matusalén" or "tiene más años que Matusalén" (he/she is older than Matusalén, he/she is more _aged_ than Matusalén)
> This guy is mentioned in the Bible and he supposely lived nine-hundred something years which is quite a lot.
> Another saying is:
> "es del año de María Castaña". (this is from the year of María Castaña) I don't know who was she, but I bet she lived long time ago.


 
And in this line, in Spanish: To have more patience than Job (tener más paciencia que *Job).*

A+


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## geve

In French we have also *machiavélique*. We sometimes make "lapsus *freudiens*" (a telling slip of the tongue). On a biblical register we also refer to *Mathusalem*, but *Judas* also became a common noun for a traitor, and the name for a spyhole/peephole (the man had betrayed Jesus, the object betrays the people knocking at the door). We say something is *kafkaïen* when the situation is absurd/incongruous, from the Czech author. Our clever students can also be compared to *Einstein*.

Some litterature characters have also become common names : We have a bunch of *don juans*. *Ubuesque* is for something/someone both ridicule and cruel (from a character of Alfred Jarry: _Ubu roi,_ 1896), and when a meal is *gargantuesque* (from François Rabelais: _Gargantua,_ 1534) it means you might suffer from indigestion afterwards.
That was just a quick overview of what famous people you can find in French language...

As for persons who gave their names to an object they invented, or a situation they created, there are lots of them, check out here (merci à LV4-26 - _sorry the link is in French_) - did you know about the Irish captain Charles *Boycott* ??


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## Cracker Jack

Hello buddy Roi.  What you are referring to are eponyms.  Common nouns or verbs derived from people's names. Examples are:

1. Bloody Mary - a red colored beverage after the Queen who persecuted Protestants.
2. Bloomers - from Amelia Bloomer who popularized this wear.
3. Bowdlerize - from Charles Bowdler who practiced sever censorship.
4. Bobbies - British peace keeping forces after Sir Robert Peel.
5. Lucy Stoner - a married woman who refuses to take up her husband's name.  Much in use in Spain.
6. Sandwich - from Lord Montagu, earl of Sandwich, who didn't want to be interrupted from gambling, he preferred sandwiches to a full meal.

And a host of many others:
gerrymander
daguerrotype
guillotine 
algorithm
bougainvillea
boycott
casanova, etc

Medical disorders - syndromes, diseases
Addison's disease
Bright's disease
Klinefelter syndrome
Turner syndrome

Scientific units:
volts
ampere 
ohm
tesla
weber
pascal
newton


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## Outsider

Tacitus: tácito, tacit.


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## manana

Hola: 
Y de nuestro querido don Quijote: quijotesco - quijotada - quijotismo - quijotería


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## cubaMania

You Benedict Arnold! = You traitor!
a valentino = a romancer, a lover
a Don Quixote = a visionary, idealist, dreamer, building castles in the air
platonic = spiritual, nonphysical, sometimes non-sexual


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## rainbow

hi,
the adjective "fellinesco" (Spanish) refers to Fellini (cinema's director) and so "kafkiano" that refers to Kafka (famous writer from Prague).
regards,
rainbow


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## manana

Entre las mujeres que  siempre nos estamos fijando en los detalles hay una serie de dichos  de este tipo:
 
Mi madre  y su generación decían "es una Jane Manfield”  para referirse a  la mujeres que destacaban por tener un gran busto, o "es una Margarita Gautier" (La Dama de las Camelias)   para    las mujeres que estaban siempre quejándose o  siempre en una actitud sufriente o débil.
 
Todavía usamos es una  Twiggy  para   caracterizar   a una mujer muy delgada;  o es una Mata Hari para referirnos a una mujer   atractiva que rompe corazones  y hace sufrir a los hombres.
 
Un Charles Atlas cuando es un tipo musculoso y buena pinta. 
 
Es un verdadero Pepito Grillo para  alguien que está siempre  abogando por  que se haga lo  más justo, lo más  correcto, lo más ecológico, lo más sano  etc..
 
En cuanto a adjetivos:
 De Salomón viene la justicia salomónica
De Dante viene una situación dantesca


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## Outsider

O una *Jecebel*.


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## manana

Outsider said:
			
		

> O una *Jecebel*.


 
¿Quién fue  Jecebel?


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## Outsider

¿No es así que se escribe "Jezebel" en español?


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## Roi Marphille

Outsider said:
			
		

> O una *Jecebel*.


As long as I know, it is not used in Castilian/Spanish, at least nowadays...maybe old people do.


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## Alundra

Outsider said:
			
		

> ¿No es así que se escribe "Jezebel" en español?


 
A mí me suena Jezabel.

Alundra.


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## Vanda

Aside all those universal characters: biblical ones, holliwoodians, historical, etc... there are the local figures. I remember - now - two of them (there are plenty, of course, but I have to think about).
'Joey is a *caxias*', or  'Joey is a *caxião'. *After an important historical figure Duque de Caxias , militar and politician, who was extremely meticulous at his work. We use the term to refer to nerds, people very dedicated to studying or working.
'You are *pinel.*' = You are crazy. After the name of Pinel the founder of a famous mental institution. 

Whenever I remember others, I'll be back!


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## Laia

Mis abuelos suelen decir:

- *Rebeca* = chaqueta (de entretiempo, como un jersey, pero abrochado con botones)

- *Manoletinas* = zapatos de tipo "bailarinas"

Creo que tiene algo que ver con películas antiguas, pero no tengo ni idea...


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## perrodelmal

En México se utiliza la palabra *malinchista* para describir a una persona que prefiere las cosas del extranjero que las nacionales; esta palabra viene de *La Malinche*, una mujer indígena que "traicionó" a los Aztecas a la llegada de Hernán Cortés, convirtiéndose incluso en amante de éste.


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## manana

perrodelmal said:
			
		

> En México se utiliza la palabra *malinchista* para describir a una persona que prefiere las cosas del extranjero que las nacionales; esta palabra viene de *La Malinche*, una mujer indígena que "traicionó" a los Aztecas a la llegada de Hernán Cortés, convirtiéndose incluso en amante de éste.


Qué interesante,  había encontrado esta palabra en algunas novelas de autores mexicanos y no sabía a que se refería


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## Fernando

Alundra said:
			
		

> A mí me suena Jezabel.
> 
> Alundra.



Ok, in Spanish is transliterated as Jezabel. I think is a kind of epytome of a bad woman. From the Bible.


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## manana

perrodelmal said:
			
		

> En México se utiliza la palabra *malinchista* para describir a una persona que prefiere las cosas del extranjero que las nacionales; esta palabra viene de *La Malinche*, una mujer indígena que "traicionó" a los Aztecas a la llegada de Hernán Cortés, convirtiéndose incluso en amante de éste.


Qué interesante,  había encontrado esta palabra en algunas novelas de autores mexicanos y no sabía a que se refería 

En Chile tenemos a La Quintrala una mujer que vivió hace un par de siglos atrás  en el campo y que hacía pactos con el diablo, era una hacendada muy rica,  tenía tierras y esclavos a quienes  hacía sufrir. Dicen que era muy cruel y despiadada;  es toda una leyenda, todavía por sus tierras  (La Ligua) los lugareños aseguran que anda el espíritu de  La Quintrala. 

Cuando una mujer es dura  o  fría y no muestra signos de piedad  decimos:  "es una Quintrala" (generalmente para referirnos a las jefas mujeres con estas carácterísticas ...jeje).


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## Laia

*Lazarillo*: así se llama a los perros que llevan los ciegos como animales guía.

El nombre viene de la novela _Lazarillo de Tormes_.


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## Javomtz

También en México utilizamos "Cantinflear" que es cuando una persona redunda mucho en lo que habla; recordándo al célebre cómico mexicano Mario Moreno "Cantinflas"


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## rainbow

manana said:
			
		

> Qué interesante, había encontrado esta palabra en algunas novelas de autores mexicanos y no sabía a que se refería
> 
> 
> En Chile tenemos a La Quintrala una mujer que vivió hace un par de siglos atrás en el campo y que hacía pactos con el diablo, era una hacendada muy rica, tenía tierras y esclavos a quienes hacía sufrir. Dicen que era muy cruel y despiadada; es toda una leyenda, todavía por sus tierras (La Ligua) los lugareños aseguran que anda el espíritu de La Quintrala.
> 
> Cuando una mujer es dura o fría y no muestra signos de piedad decimos: "es una Quintrala" (generalmente para referirnos a las jefas mujeres con estas carácterísticas ...jeje).


 
Es interesante además comprobar que no existen motes de ese tipo para describir la conducta de algunos hombres...sólo para mujeres   
abrazos


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## Fernando

rainbow said:
			
		

> Es interesante además comprobar que no existen motes de ese tipo para describir la conducta de algunos hombres...sólo para mujeres
> abrazos


¿Quieres decir, como ser un Atila?


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## ampurdan

Outsider, I think that "craso", severe and tacit come from common words in Latin previous to the roman proper names you've mentioned.


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## diegodbs

In English "to out-herod Herod": to be extremely wicked or cruel.


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## Outsider

ampurdan said:
			
		

> Outsider, I think that "craso", severe and tacit come from common words in Latin previous to the roman proper names you've mentioned.


Thanks. I wondered whether that might be the case.


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## rainbow

Fernando said:
			
		

> ¿Quieres decir, como ser un Atila?


 
El Rey de los Hunos?  A qué hombre se lo llama así Fernando?
Desde la Edad Media a las mujeres las llaman "brujas"... por aquí es también un sinónimo de mujer. Pero en aquella época las quemaban  
rainbow


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## Fernando

"Atila" is called to a person (specially, kids) who is always destroying things.

To Outsider / Ampurdan: I do not know about Severus and Tacitus but Crassus means "fat".

PS: ...what is a good explanation for craso error (gross mistake) but not the meaning as "rich person", which is not so used and is not present in RAE.


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## Anna Più

Hi,
And in Spanish we also have "To be *Roquefeler*" (to be rich).
_Que te crees, que soy Roquefeler? o ... Dile a "X"que no eres Roquefeler!_

Cheers,
A+


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## rainbow

Anna Più said:
			
		

> Hi,
> And in Spanish we also have "To be *Roquefeler*" (to be rich).
> _Que te crees, que soy Roquefeler? o ... Dile a tu novio/a que no eres Roquefeler!_


 
Many years ago, we used to say "I'm not Onassis" with the same meaning, in reference to the famous Greek tycoon.
rainbow


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## Okapilady

In Québec we have 'Il est un Séraphin' (He is a scrooge).  It comes from the book 'Un homme et son péché' in which Séraphin is a cruel man very close to his money.  I guess in English, to be a scrooge comes from Dickens' book.


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## Kaia

A typical one in Argentina is "you are Gardel" when you are very good at doing something.
http://http://www.mibsasquerido.com.ar/wcelebrities03.htm


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## Laia

*Carpanta*: person who eats a lot.
Example: _para de comer, carpanta!_
Here is the story of the use of this word.


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## Hakro

Roi Marphille said:
			
		

> We find a lot of adjectives and even verbs out of names of people such: _Orwellian, Darwinian, Columbian, Marxism_...and we have some names that we relate with some kind of activity or status;
> 
> Example:
> if someone is really fast in his/her car they call him/her _Fitipaldi_. (In Spain)
> If someone is very intelligent we call him/her _Einstein_.
> 
> The other day I saw a dialogue in TV, it was something like:
> - hey, you call me to apologise before sunset!
> - who are you, _Gary Cooper_? (for youngsters who don't know  , he was an American actor who used to perform the tough guy in Westerns)



A fast driver should be spelled Fittipaldi (double t, after Emerson Fittipaldi, the Brazilian Formula One Champion in 1972 and 1974). Instead of Fittipaldi we use in Finnish the name of (Juan Manuel) Fangio, the greatest F1 champion of all times (1951 and 1954-57).

If you know who's Gary Cooper and if you know what's the Cooper test, you should also know the "salesman's Cooper test". It goes like this: After a long night in a restaurant, you wake up in the morning and you go to the bathroom. You see your face in the mirror. If you look like Gary Cooper you dress up and start doing business. If not, you go back to bed.


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## Roi Marphille

Hakro said:
			
		

> A fast driver should be spelled Fittipaldi (double t, after Emerson Fittipaldi, the Brazilian Formula One Champion in 1972 and 1974). Instead of Fittipaldi we use in Finnish the name of (Juan Manuel) Fangio, the greatest F1 champion of all times (1951 and 1954-57)..


ups, sorry my mistake.  



			
				Hakro said:
			
		

> If you know who's Gary Cooper and if you know what's the Cooper test, you should also know the "salesman's Cooper test". It goes like this: After a long night in a restaurant, you wake up in the morning and you go to the bathroom. You see your face in the mirror. If you look like Gary Cooper you dress up and start doing business. If not, you go back to bed.


wow, this Gary Cooper test is cool! I guess you don't mean to take the hat, the belt and revolvers when saying "dress up"...  I bet purchasings from your clients would be under pressure  wouldn't be?


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## Fernando

Hakro said:
			
		

> A fast driver should be spelled Fittipaldi (double t, after Emerson Fittipaldi, the Brazilian Formula One Champion in 1972 and 1974).



The Spanish pronunciation is, no doubt "fitipaldi" (no double t).


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## belén

Fernando said:
			
		

> The Spanish pronunciation is, no doubt "fitipaldi" (no double t).



Yeah, but Hakro is establishing how to spell it, not how to pronounce it, right? I think Mr. Fittipaldi deserves a good spelling after all his efforts..


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## Fernando

Well, I would say Mr. Boycott has suffered a wider harm from his baptism to his Spanish adoption (boicot). Given the use is mostly colloquial I did not consider my remark was totally unuseful.
I knew of a "Fitipaldi", who used to be the fastest boat (transporting drug) pilot in Galicia. He is no more. He crashed with a rock in 1995.


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## ampurdan

I think there are two different phenomena dealt here:

1) one person's name used as a common name of a thing or a phenomenon (boicot) -> spelling may be adapted to Spanish pronounciation and first letter must not be capitalized.

2) one person's name applied to people who people who ressemble that person because of the qualities in which he or she stands or stood out. First must be capitalized and original spelling must be preserved (unless it's not written in a Latin Alphabet).

It's just my opinion...


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## Fernando

I agree with ampurdan (1). I surrender my flag. Long life Fittipaldi (pronounced fitipaldi).

(1) Some nuances: Machiavelli has been "adopted". Someone (in Spanish) "es un Maquiavelo" (not Machiavelli) or "es una persona maquiavélica.


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## belén

Fernando said:
			
		

> Well, I would say Mr. Boycott has suffered a wider harm from his baptism to his Spanish adoption (boicot). Given the use is mostly colloquial I did not consider my remark was totally unuseful.
> I knew of a "Fitipaldi", who used to be the fastest boat (transporting drug) pilot in Galicia. He is no more. He crashed with a rock in 1995.



I see your point now. I didn't understand it like that when I read your other post. That's why I commented on that. 

I understand also your additional info, Ampurdan, and I agree, of course

Cheers,
Belén


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## ampurdan

Fernando said:
			
		

> I agree with ampurdan (1). I surrender my flag. Long life Fittipaldi (pronounced fitipaldi).
> 
> (1) Some nuances: Machiavelli has been "adopted". Someone (in Spanish) "es un Maquiavelo" (not Machiavelli) or "es una persona maquiavélica.


 
Yes, I think that Ancient, Medieval and some Renaissance names are translated (Aristóteles, César, Cicerón, Tomás Moro...). Also the name of kings and queens...


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## Roi Marphille

*michelín.* (De _Michelin_, marca reg., por alus. a la figura humana formada con neumáticos con que se anuncia). *1.* m. coloq. Pliegue de gordura que se forma en alguna parte del cuerpo.
*Source:RAE*

In this case, the name _Michelin_ (surname of the brothers who founded the Company) is widely known and accepted by RAE as a human body part!


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## Laia

Roi Marphille said:
			
		

> *michelín.* (De _Michelin_, marca reg., por alus. a la figura humana formada con neumáticos con que se anuncia). *1.* m. coloq. Pliegue de gordura que se forma en alguna parte del cuerpo.
> *Source:RAE*
> 
> In this case, the name _Michelin_ (surname of the brothers who founded the Company) is widely known and accepted by RAE as a human body part!


 
Creo recordar que en la película _Love Actually_ (que he visto en versión original y también doblada) hay un momento en que un hombre le dice a su hija "Cállate, *Miss Michelín*" o algo así... En la versión en inglés me parece que decía "*Miss Dunkin Donuts*". Bueno... de hecho es una parte de la película en la que hablan en portugués, así que esto eran los subtítulos! jeje
No estoy segura porque ya hace mucho que la vi pero me parece que la cosa iba así...


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## SweetMommaSue

I have also heard people refer to their fast-driving friends:

"The way he drives, you'd think he was Mario Andretti!"

And I'm surprised no one mentioned a rather recent one: Bobbitize.
It came from the trial of Mrs. Bobbit who cut-off the manhood of her adulterous husband.  I don't remember her first name, but it's the last name that was so dubiously commemorated. (My husband shudders whenever the term is used)

My other was Benedict Arnold--already mentioned!

Great thread!

edit: Did no one mention Don Juan? We still call carousing men either Don Juans or Casanovas.


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## ampurdan

Creo que el Kaiser de los alemanes (emperador) y el zar de los rusos derivan esos títulos del "Caesar" romano, usado como sinónimo de "princeps" o "imperator", aunque creo que en origen era una especie de apellido latino (Julio César, César Augusto).


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## Roi Marphille

SweetMommaSue said:
			
		

> I have also heard people refer to their fast-driving friends:
> 
> "The way he drives, you'd think he was Mario Andretti!"
> .


that makes sense! I believe he was better than Fittipaldi.  
It's curious how it changes from place to place and from time to time. Maybe in the future they will mention Fernando Alonso...


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## Hakro

ampurdan said:
			
		

> Yes, I think that Ancient, Medieval and some Renaissance names are translated (Aristóteles, César, Cicerón, Tomás Moro...). Also the name of kings and queens...


 For the ancient names there are different forms in different languages but generally they can be understood. For the royal names the differences can be more difficult (William / Guillaume for exemple). 
In Finland we have recently decided to abandon the translation of the royal names. I believe that Juan Carlos of Spain was the first to keep his own name, but the king of our neighbour Sweden is still translated (Carl Gustaf => Kaarle Kustaa). Now the next queen of Sweden (in Finnish) will be Victoria, not Viktoria (in Finnish we don't have the letter c; it's not needed because it's pronounced either s or k).


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