# Atticus. (No joke). **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 11, 2001, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atticus-no-joke/86865 "2001-10-11T19:48:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![d12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/71c47a/32.png) [@d12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/d12)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2001, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atticus-no-joke/86865/1 "2001-10-11T19:48:31Z")
In To Kill A Mockingbird, does his name have any meaning to it? Like the greek god Atticus-lawyer-who-saves-many? Or was this name just made up? (it’s not exactly a common one now is it?) ---
**Author:** ![Legomancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2001, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atticus-no-joke/86865/2 "2001-10-11T19:49:55Z")
It’s from a latin word meaning “do your own goddamn homework.” ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2001, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atticus-no-joke/86865/3 "2001-10-11T19:56:16Z")
No, no, it’s Greek. I means “read the book more than two days before the report is due.” ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2001, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atticus-no-joke/86865/4 "2001-10-11T20:04:02Z")
You just don’t quit do you? I would think you’d get the message from your Dill thread (whom, by the way, was Scout’s pimp if you didn’t get that down). But I’ll help you out here, since you seem so desperate. See, Atticus is really his nickname. It’s what he used to call his attic when he was a very young toddler (you know how toddlers make up the weirdest words out of normal English, like ‘tees’ for ‘trees’). His real name was Cornelius. So anyways, Atticus was chained in his attic (or as he called it, the ‘atticus’)until he was 26. He then became a lawyer so that he could bring his tyrannical parents to justice. It’s never really explained in the book, as it’s more of a flashback. He kept his nickname to show Jem and Scout that even people with the worst childhoods can prosper. ---
**Author:** ![Trucido](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@Trucido](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trucido)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2001, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atticus-no-joke/86865/5 "2001-10-11T20:22:19Z")
I think you have a pretty serious mistake there, **bean\_shadow**. His real name was Erasmus, not Cornelius, and his age when he was released from the attic is never given. Maybe you could do with a closer reading yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2001, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atticus-no-joke/86865/6 "2001-10-11T20:24:17Z")
Schoolchild, I take pity on you. [Here is your answer](http://www.angelfire.com/tn/atticus/). ---
**Author:** ![d12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/71c47a/32.png) [@d12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/d12)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2001, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atticus-no-joke/86865/7 "2001-10-11T20:48:34Z")
Ok, enough already! I’ve read the damn book! Ask me ANY question 🙂 But please, I heard nearly no mention of Dill or Atticus’ physical description. Dill is not Scout’s pimp, but her fiancé ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2001, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atticus-no-joke/86865/8 "2001-10-11T21:10:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Trucido \* > \*\*I think you have a pretty serious mistake there, **bean\_shadow**. His real name was Erasmus, not Cornelius, and his age when he was released from the attic is never given. Maybe you could do with a closer reading yourself. \*\* I feel so stupid. It has been a while since I last read it. Maybe I was absent on the day they discussed that part. 😉 It **was** a very short flashback. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2001, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atticus-no-joke/86865/9 "2001-10-11T21:27:51Z")
I believe Atticus Finch was named after T. Pomponius Atticus, the patrician, statesman, and close friend of M. Tullius Cicero. In Latin, Atticus means “Greek,” or more specifically, “Athenian.” ---
**Author:** ![d12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/71c47a/32.png) [@d12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/d12)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2001, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atticus-no-joke/86865/10 "2001-10-11T22:00:36Z")
Good reasoning. I heard Lee was trying to incorporate childhood friends, stories, feelings, into the novel, so I’m trying to tie in the name Atticus to it all. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atticus-no-joke/86865/11 "2001-10-12T15:18:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by d12 \* > \*\*But please, I heard nearly no mention of Dill or Atticus’ physical description. > \*\* Dill is a strapping lad in true Bill Gates fashion. Atticus, on the other hand, appears quite meek, probably because of his slight, almost Bob Hope-like nose. It’s in fact the reason his night vision goggles kept slipping shortly before he shot the rabid dog (Benji). Kudos to Harper though. Writes two freakin’ books and gets a valley named after her. ---
**Author:** ![G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c67d28/32.png) [@G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G.B.H.Hornswoggler)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atticus-no-joke/86865/12 "2001-10-12T15:35:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lieu \* > Kudos to Harper though. Writes two freakin’ books and gets a valley named after her. \*\* _And_ a Ferry – don’t forget the ferry! ---
**Author:** ![demanton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@demanton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/demanton)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atticus-no-joke/86865/13 "2001-10-12T17:33:28Z")
From my very own publication “Demanton’s Notes On ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’: The Movie”: ``` "Dill was the very picture of blackness and whiteness, with various shades of gray throughout. Imagine, if you will, a brother in gray kneepants and a gray shirt. His skin shone with vibrant grayness, and a scowl of contempt for the rural Alabamians was perpetually present on his face, for he was a Meridian, Mississippi man through and through. His hair, black, was each morning meticulously parted with a buttered biscuit, as was the fashion of the time." ``` “Atticus Finch dressed the part of the dapper lawyer type, his gray suits rakishly contrasting his black shoes, and was known to sport a gray hat and gray tie which, in effect, said to the world ‘Don’t mess with Atticus today, he’s wearing gray’. But messed with him they did one day in upstate New York, a day of infamosity known as the Atticus Massacre, in which he whacked out some cops or something. His name became the rallying cry for ne’er do wells throughout the country, most notably an erstwhile bank robber named Sonny Worczick. '_Atticus Atticus Atticus!’_” I hope that this has been helpful. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2001, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atticus-no-joke/86865/14 "2001-10-15T15:07:28Z")
So d12, can you describe for us in 50 words or less the attributes of your teacher’s face when she read your report? Better yet, can you post your report. ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2001, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atticus-no-joke/86865/15 "2001-10-15T18:38:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lieu \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by d12 \* > > \*\*But please, I heard nearly no mention of Dill or Atticus’ physical description. > > \*\* > > Dill is a strapping lad in true Bill Gates fashion.\*\* Did he dress completely in white and hang out in discos in this book, or am I thinking about the sequel? ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2001, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atticus-no-joke/86865/16 "2001-10-15T18:48:11Z")
Ok, ok, ok… After discussing this with Ms. cornflakes, Atticus Finch is a direct Latin translation of “Arthur Dietrich”. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2001, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atticus-no-joke/86865/17 "2001-10-15T18:54:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by cornflakes \* > \*\* Did he dress completely in white and hang out in discos in this book, or am I thinking about the sequel? \*\* [/QUOTE] That was the planned sequel… To Kill A Finch. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2001, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atticus-no-joke/86865/18 "2001-10-15T20:53:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lieu \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by cornflakes \* > > \*\* > > Did he dress completely in white and hang out in discos in this book, or am I thinking about the sequel? \*\* That was the planned sequel… To Kill A Finch. \*\* [/QUOTE] Just Shoot Me Now!