what does your username mean?

[Dick7Access]

Originally Posted by vba_php

oh trust me DICK, I think all little kids r cute, no matter how old they are nowadays.

I use to be at a lost as what to say when a new mother showed me her new baby. Hey, new borns all look alike to me. A preacher friend of mine gave me a good answer. Now, I say "Now that's a baby". That's enough to satisfy the mother. Unfortunately now You know the gals on this forum just labeled me a chauvinist.

[The_Doc_Man]

At one point when I was in the oil & gas industry, we had four Toms in the same group. We started calling them according to last initial, as Tom Z., Tom L., etc.

[Gasman]

In Wales we have a tradition of naming people by their profession. Along the lines of

Tom the Coal (Coalman)
George the Fruit (Fruit and Veg man)
Phil the Meat (Butcher)

In the Welsh Guards I believe they use a naming convention of surname and last 3 digits of service number as there are so many Wiiilams and Evans etc.

[The_Doc_Man]

There is little doubt that as society developed and people started leading family names, occupations led to some of the more common family names.

Farmer - as a last name, obviously, was a family of farmers.

Smith - as a last name, obviously, was a family of metal-shapers

Wright - as a last name, was a carpenter who made wagons or wheels

Gardener - as a last name, was clearly a horticulturalist of some type

Woods - as a last name, perhaps a lumberjack or arborist

Cook - as a last name, speaks for itself

This happens in German, too!

Messer - made tables

Schmidt - was a smithy

Jaeger - was a hunter

In French, ...

Chevalier - was a horseman

But then, there was a gentleman who many many years ago was the Privy Plumber (and our UK friends will recognize that it means "appointed by the King/Queen"). The guy was credited (incorrectly) with the invention of the modern style of flush toilet. I speak of Thomas Crapper, whose unfortunate place in history has led to a common vulgarity. What a way to be remembered.

BUT my curiosity still lingers. In his case, he gave his name to the profession rather than the other way around. What did his family do BEFORE he became an experience toilet maker?

[isladogs]

Indeed. The flush toilet was invented by Alexander Cumming though Thomas Crapper did invent the ballcock.

So we could all instead be saying

I'm just going to the cumming….

Not a good idea me thinks