# Diogenes \[The Synic\] What does your name mean? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 16, 2004, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diogenes-the-synic-what-does-your-name-mean/275007 "2004-11-16T04:34:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diogenes-the-synic-what-does-your-name-mean/275007/1 "2004-11-16T04:34:33Z")
I’ve always wondered. What does the ‘Diogenes’ bit mean? On a related note, I only just found out that ‘tomndeb’ is ‘tom n deb’ as in “Tom and Deb”. Until now I thought ‘tomndeb’ was some unusual clever word. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diogenes-the-synic-what-does-your-name-mean/275007/2 "2004-11-16T04:35:53Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > I’ve always wondered. What does the ‘Diogenes’ bit mean? It’s a Greek name: [http://www.iep.utm.edu/d/diogsino.htm](http://www.iep.utm.edu/d/diogsino.htm) - Tamerlane ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diogenes-the-synic-what-does-your-name-mean/275007/3 "2004-11-16T04:37:50Z")
Er, that’s ‘Cynic’ with a ‘C’ rather than an ‘S’. i.e. the correct spelling of the word. Quick reply **Tamerlane** , thanks 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![smartini](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/22d042/32.png) [@smartini](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smartini)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diogenes-the-synic-what-does-your-name-mean/275007/4 "2004-11-16T04:43:36Z")
What does Lobsang mean? ---
**Author:** ![professor\_folk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df788c/32.png) [@professor\_folk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/professor_folk)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diogenes-the-synic-what-does-your-name-mean/275007/5 "2004-11-16T04:44:33Z")
…stereotypically represented by an old man with a lantern searching for an honest man. Am I right? Seem to recall that from somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diogenes-the-synic-what-does-your-name-mean/275007/6 "2004-11-16T04:48:38Z")
> [@smartini](#): > > What does Lobsang mean? Originally I think it’s a standard tibettan first name, but more to the point it’s the name of a Discworld character. From ‘Thief of Time’. (In case you didn’t know Discworld is a fictional world created by author Terry Pratchett) ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diogenes-the-synic-what-does-your-name-mean/275007/7 "2004-11-16T04:48:44Z")
> [@professor folk](#): > > …stereotypically represented by an old man with a lantern searching for an honest man. Am I right? Seem to recall that from somewhere. That would be **Diogenes** searching for **Liberal**. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diogenes-the-synic-what-does-your-name-mean/275007/8 "2004-11-16T05:20:43Z")
Meanwhile, may I present to you all, and especially to our Manxman, [Dr. Tuesday Lobsang Rampa](http://users.uniserve.com/~dharris/Rampa/rampa.htm) and [the straight dope about him](http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/thirdeye.html). More [Rampa-nt weirdness](http://www.geocities.com/athens/ithaca/4886/lobsangrampa.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diogenes-the-synic-what-does-your-name-mean/275007/9 "2004-11-16T05:28:09Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Meanwhile, may I present to you all, and especially to our Manxman, > > [Dr. Tuesday Lobsang Rampa](http://users.uniserve.com/~dharris/Rampa/rampa.htm) and [the straight dope about him](http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/thirdeye.html). More [Rampa-nt weirdness](http://www.geocities.com/athens/ithaca/4886/lobsangrampa.htm). I am familiar with Mr Rampa. (google vanity searches) but I have never read much into him. I shall read the linked pages at work tomorrow. I am off to the land of nod now. P.S. **Polycarp** You are the **Q.E.D.** of non-technical knowledge. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diogenes-the-synic-what-does-your-name-mean/275007/10 "2004-11-16T21:57:36Z")
Diogenes is the subject of a chapter in Diogenes Laertius’ _Lives of Eminent Philosophers_ from the 2nd century AD. Translations differ. [http://classicpersuasion.org/pw/diogenes/dldiogenes.htm](http://classicpersuasion.org/pw/diogenes/dldiogenes.htm) > [@](#): > > On one occasion he was working with his hands [masturbating] in the market-place, and said, “I wish I could rub my stomach in the same way, and so avoid hunger.” … > > Once at a banquet, some of the guests threw him bones, as if he had been a dog; so he, as he went away, put up his leg against them as if he had been a dog in reality. [http://www.molloy.edu/academic/philosophy/sophia/ancient\_lit/diogenes\_life.htm](http://www.molloy.edu/academic/philosophy/sophia/ancient_lit/diogenes_life.htm) > [@](#): > > On being asked by somebody, " What sort of a man do you consider Diogenes to be ? " " A Socrates gone mad," said he. > > Being asked what he had done to be called a dog, he said, " I fawn on those who give me anything, I yelp at those who refuse, and I set my teeth in rascals"… > > Some one took him into a magnificent house and warned him not to spit, whereupon having cleared his throat he discharged the phlegm into the man’s face, being unable, he said, to find a meaner receptacle. > > When some strangers expressed a wish to see Demosthenes, he stretched out his middle finger and said, “There goes the demagogue of Athens.” ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2004, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diogenes-the-synic-what-does-your-name-mean/275007/11 "2004-11-16T22:33:52Z")
Didn’t Tenzing Norgay have a son named Lobsang? Lobsang Sherpa Norgay or somesuch?