# What's your Medieval English\* epithet? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 20, 2025, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-medieval-english-epithet/1025013 "2025-11-20T16:27:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2025, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-medieval-english-epithet/1025013/21 "2025-11-22T16:56:47Z")
Charles the Fat\* Actually Karl der Gross Actually loosely translated it could be Karl the Great Personally I like the idea that he was unusually fat ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2025, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-medieval-english-epithet/1025013/22 "2025-11-22T18:31:50Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > [Roger Fuckbythenavele](https://www.vice.com/en/article/this-historian-just-found-the-oldest-use-of-fuck-920/) He probably had more success with women than the other guy mentioned in that article, Alwin Clawecunt. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2025, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-medieval-english-epithet/1025013/23 "2025-11-22T18:34:03Z")
Don’t know if he/it had a first name but I’ve always liked “Slobberchops.” ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2025, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-medieval-english-epithet/1025013/24 "2025-11-22T18:51:06Z")
Tryptophan The Tong Wielder ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2025, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-medieval-english-epithet/1025013/25 "2025-11-22T21:31:11Z")
I have never heard that he was that fat; the estimate [here](https://www.medievalists.net/2010/08/study-charlemagne-was-very-tall-but-not-robust/) is that he was between 5′ 10″ and 6′ 4″ and about 172 pounds. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2025, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-medieval-english-epithet/1025013/26 "2025-11-25T01:05:31Z")
Guess! (Actually it comes from the Norse) ---
**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 25, 2025, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-medieval-english-epithet/1025013/27 "2025-11-25T01:46:29Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > Personally I like the idea that he was unusually fat There is zero evidence that he was and that nickname is not even close to contemporary. History has not been kind to his reputation because he was in a sense one of history’s losers (not a massive one, really - but overall). But the usual view of him as being incompetent and lethargic appears likely to have come from a hostile monastic chronicle of his later reign in an area where he had imposed himself. Like all Carolingians he was a peripatetic ruler and seems to have been on the move frequently responding to various direct threats, hardly lethargic. His biggest failure was simply to produce an heir which would almost certainly have pre-empted his partial deposition, the higher nobility being fond of stability in troubled (viking) times. Had he done so his empire may have endured (at least for a little while) and a kinder assessment may have survived down the ages. ETA: Though if you like big, fat kings there IS contemporary evidence that William the Conqueror aka William the Bastard was massively fat 🙂. It probably killed him when his belly came down hard on the pommel of his saddle and caused internal injuries while he was on campaign. His eldest son Robert Curthose (“short stockings” - short and round, mockingly nicknamed by his unloving father) was also a chunky dude as very likely was Richard I Lionheart, at least by his end. ETA II: Another one I like is that other Carolingian Charles the Bald. His nickname does seen to be contemporary, but there is no evidence he was bald. In fact one historian has pointed out that “reverse humor” was very common in that era, so he may in fact have been unusually hairy 😀. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2025, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-medieval-english-epithet/1025013/28 "2025-11-25T18:19:51Z")
> **[Curly Howard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curly_Howard#/media/File:Curlyhoward.jpg)** > > Jerome Howard (born Jerome Lester Horwitz; October 22, 1903 – January 18, 1952), better known by his stage name Curly Howard,\[a\] was an American comedian and actor. He was a member of The Three Stooges comedy team, which also featured his elder brothers Moe and Shemp Howard, as well as vaudevillian Larry Fine. In early shorts, he was billed as "Curley". He was generally considered the most popular and recognizable of the Stooges. > He was known for his high-pitched voice, odd vocal expressions, ... ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2025, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-medieval-english-epithet/1025013/29 "2025-11-25T21:15:31Z")
Indeed. Hence its placement in MPSIMS and not CS [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-medieval-english-epithet/1025013.md?page=1)