Nag (which in Hindi and/or Sanskrit means “cobra”) is used as the name of the male of a cobra pair killed by the title character in Kipling’s Rikki-Tikki-Tavi.
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi was a mongoose, for which the standard plural form is “mongooses”, but I once enjoyed playing “mongeese” for a (legit) triple-triple in Scrabble.
Word Freak is a 2001 nonfiction book by Wall Street Journal sportswriter Stefan Fatsis. It chronicles Fatsis’s determination to break into the insular and more than a little bizarre subculture of international competitive Scrabble.
Frank Zappa ran two vanity record labels in the early 70s – Bizarre Records and Straight Records – which put out albums by people like Captain Beefheart, Alice Cooper, Tim Buckley, Wild Man Fischer, Lord Buckley, as well as albums by Zappa with and without the Mothers.
George Harrison was a huge fan of comedian Lord Buckley. Harrison’s whimsical song “Crackerbox Palce” was named after Lord Buckley’s house.
Conservative writer William F. Buckley Jr. once ran for Mayor of New York City on a lark, but was defeated. He joked that if he’d won, he would’ve demanded a recount.
In 1861, New York City mayor Fernando Wood submitted a proposal to the City Council to secede from the Union and join the Confederacy, so as to continue the city’s large cotton trade with the South.
Slaves in the American south used the roots of cotton plants as folk medicine to induce miscarriage.
A slave was originally counted as three-fifths of a person in the U.S. Constitution, a compromise between Northerners who didn’t want them counted at all (as they weren’t permitted to vote), and Southerners who insisted that they be fully counted for purposes of representation in the House of Representatives (as Southern political power would otherwise be severely disadvantaged).
Fifth Third Bank, based in Cincinnati, OH, got its name when, in 1908, the Fifth National Bank and the Third National Bank merged. Because prohibition was on an upswing, they went with “Fifth Third” instead of “Third Fifth” so it didn’t sound like they were promoting alcohol usage - three fifths of booze.
The Society of the Cincinnati was an association of former Revolutionary War officers, founded by Henry Knox and Alexander Hamilton. They adopted the name of the Roman general Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, who dropped his plow in his fields when he was summoned to go win a war, and picked the plow back up upon his return. The Ohio city is named for the society, which counted the then-Northwest Territory’s governor Arthur St. Clair as a member, and to recognize the number of Revolutionary veterans who built the city.
George Washington was frequently likened to Cincinnatus during his lifetime, and was the first honorary president of the Society of the Cincinnati. The reluctant Roman hero and leader’s story is also reflected in the 2000 Russell Crowe movie Gladiator.
During the Civil War, Ulysses S. Grant’s favorite horse was called Cincinnati.
Grant was born Hiram Ulysses Grant. When he was appointed to West Point, he was incorrectly listed as “Ulysses S. Grant.” The “S” did not stand for anything in particular. He kept the name, but was called “Sam” by friends. Later, his middle name became “Simpson,” his mother’s maiden name.
Founded in 1802, the United States Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. was the first service academy here. The Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md. did not open until 1845, as young officers were trained aboard active-duty warships up to that time.
The Britannia Royal Naval College, the Dartmouth, UK equivalent to Annapolis, is named for its former site, the hulk HMS Britannia, later supplemented by HMS Hindostan. The school is commissioned as HMS Dartmouth, the name Britannia having been taken by the royal yacht.
Dartmouth College is one of nine “Colonial Colleges”, which were all founded before the American Revolution. The other eight are Harvard University, the College of William & Mary, Yale University, University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, Columbia University, Brown University and Rutgers University. All but William & Mary and Rutgers are considered “Ivy League” schools as well.
College Fjord in Alaska, a popular cruise ship destination, contains glaciers named for Amherst, Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Downer, Harvard, Mt. Holyoke, Smith, Vassar, Wellesley, Williams, and Yale. Columbia and Dartmouth Glaciers are nearby. The 1964 Good Friday earthquake, the most powerful in US history, had its epicenter there.
The Mount Holyoke athletic teams are nicknamed Lyons, after founder Mary Lyon.
The Lord Lyon King of Arms is the highest heraldic official in Scotland, and head of the oldest heraldic court still in daily session. The current Lord Lyon is William David Hamilton Sellar.