# Gimme words like this: "draconian" **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 12, 2009, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-words-like-this-draconian/496175 "2009-05-12T16:09:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-words-like-this-draconian/496175/41 "2009-05-13T08:19:26Z")
@Wordman : while we’re on the subject of Greco-Roman myth and fame : **Platonic love** , i.e. pure, sexless love) **Jovial** , meaning cheerful. From the Latin declension of Jupiter’s name. When you’re being jovial, you belong to Jupiter. The **guillotine** , named after its first proponent (but not inventor), Dr. Guillotin. He believed a painless, mechanical means of “more humane” execution would be the first step towards abolishing the death penalty alltogether. Boy was he in for disappointment… The **sandwich** , named after the 4th Earl of Sandwich, who didn’t invent it, nor popularized it. He just liked it very much, as he could eat without leaving the card table. Hey, not every etimology’s tied to a fascinating tale, OK ? 🙂 The **Bowie knife** , not to be confused with David Bowie’s… sidekick… in the movie _Labyrinth_ **Swashbuckler** /buckling : from a 16th century fighting style mostly characterized by flashy moves with the sword and a small shield called buckler on the off hand. Not eponymic, but quite possibly onomatopeic : the sword “swashed” through the air and hit the buckler. **Cornelian dilemma** : from French tragedy playwright Corneille, a choice one is forced to make, knowing all possible outcomes are bad for oneself, i.e. a no-win situation. \*\*Quixotic \*\*: from the protagonist of the novel Don Quixote, meaning ultimately silly but well-meaning. ---
**Author:** ![Septima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Septima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Septima)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-words-like-this-draconian/496175/42 "2009-05-13T08:41:29Z")
“vandalism”, from the Vandals, one of the (germanic?) peoples who migrated south after and during the fall of Rome. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-words-like-this-draconian/496175/43 "2009-05-13T08:49:01Z")
Along the lines of vandals, we have hooligans - from an Irish person or family (there are lots of theories but they’re all very similar) and assassins (from ‘hashishim,’ the ancient name given to an Ismaili Muslim sect). _Edited to add details_. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-words-like-this-draconian/496175/44 "2009-05-13T10:09:06Z")
British police are known as Bobbies because of Sir Robert Peel. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-words-like-this-draconian/496175/45 "2009-05-13T12:00:01Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Like “Lesbos”? Lesbos/lesbian wasn’t used as an example. The OP was noting what had triggered this thread, not giving it as a model. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-words-like-this-draconian/496175/46 "2009-05-13T13:15:40Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > But the thread is about eponyms…the names of _people_, real or imaginary, which have become common nouns or adjectives. People or historical populaces. Places will do just fine too. “Vandalism” and “pyrrhic victory” pare two really good examples of the intent of my OP. ---
**Author:** ![LaurentZidane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bb73d2/32.png) [@LaurentZidane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LaurentZidane)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-words-like-this-draconian/496175/47 "2009-05-13T13:32:44Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > My favorite word of this type is [isabelline](http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/enwiki/1305538), describing a pale, yellowish-gray color. > > According to legend, it originates from a Queen Isabella (which one is uncertain) who vowed not to change her underwear until her country’s armies were victorious in a siege against an enemy city. > > The city held out much much longer than expected, resulting in underwear of an isabelline hue. 😃 I’m surprised it doesn’t describe a more red color. O\_o ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-words-like-this-draconian/496175/48 "2009-05-13T13:35:01Z")
Tantalizing. Comes from the story of [Tantalus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tantalus), who was not a nice person. ---
**Author:** ![DaphneBlack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daphneblack/32/5389_2.png) [@DaphneBlack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaphneBlack)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-words-like-this-draconian/496175/49 "2009-05-13T15:29:33Z")
And of course there’s Echo the nymph who loved her own voice and fell in with Narcissus who loved to look at himself in the pond. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-words-like-this-draconian/496175/50 "2009-05-13T15:42:19Z")
For some of the answers that are tied to mythology, the myth might have been invented to explain the word, rather than the name of the character in the myth becoming the word. I’d bet my boots that the Greeks had the word “echo” before someone made up the story of Echo and Narcissus. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-words-like-this-draconian/496175/51 "2009-05-13T15:44:14Z")
Slipping someone a “Mickey”. … most likely named for the bartender Mickey Finn…of a Chicago establishment, the Lone Star Saloon and Palm Garden Restaurant ---
**Author:** ![Carl\_Corey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Carl\_Corey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carl_Corey)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-words-like-this-draconian/496175/52 "2009-05-13T16:04:45Z")
> [@Idlewild](#): > > Not to mention the raglan jacket/sweater construction, named after one Lord Raglan who lost his arm in the Crimean war and wanted something easier to wear than the standard set-in sleeve. Actually he lost his arm at Waterloo. His part in the Crimean War was to screw up badly. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-words-like-this-draconian/496175/53 "2009-05-13T16:20:03Z")
[Boycott](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Boycott) [Kinnear](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Kinnear) has entered the vocab of knitters. (read down to Pop Culture references) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gimme-words-like-this-draconian/496175.md?page=2)