GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE TREATMENT OF PROPER NAME IDIOMS IN THE IDIOM DICTIONARIES STUDIED

The results of the analysis comparing the data furnished by the ten compilations, together with the details provided by the OED, yielded four categories based on the following

gradation. Category 0 is formed of the accounts where all the issues relevant for this study were ignored, resulting in the grade 'nought'. Category 1 contains all the items where one of the essentials was covered, whether the character or

location in which the proper name had its origin, or the date of first recorded use of the phrase, or other informative facts on its background. Hence, in Category 2 two pieces of such information were provided, and, finally, in Category 3 all the desired aspects were covered.

Category 0: 1 item

A single representative (a clever dick) of this unwanted

class emerged. Among the three compilers none had any idea as to from whom, when and whereby the proper name in the idiom in question has derived its origins. This situation was

slightly improved by the OED data, even if only on account of dating. The total lack of at least potential derivation might be accounted for by the possibility that the phrase goes back

to an appellative abbreviated to this form, traceable to 'detective', for example.

Category 1: 4 items

Two idioms in this category appear to be euphemistic names for God in exclamations (for Pete's sake; for the love of Mike), of which the identity of neither is revealed in any of the sources. Of the two remaining one is a generic use of a name to represent persons who regard themselves clever (smart aleck), and the last item (Adam's ale) refers to the

legendary forefather of the human race. In other words, all names here are used vicariously, to stand either for any

resourceful person, for God, or for the first man. Apparently it is due to the high degree of generalization that nothing is known of their derivation either; and also all dating would be lost without the support of the OED, excepting the case of smart aleck, dated to the 1860s by Brewer.

Category 2: 22 items

The failure to date these idioms within at least the nearest half a century, let alone a decade, appears to be the feature dominating this category. This is well instanced by any/every Tom, Dick or Harry, whose closest chronological estimates are as round as 'Victorian times' (Brewer). This group seems to

share another feature in common with Category 1: the majority of the proper names in these idioms are also used in a

generic way, the only exceptions being A1 at Lloyd's, to put on the ritz, and (not) to set the Thames on fire, which all go back to historically identifiable characters or locational entities.

The subject matter they arise from is: properized

appellatives (5 in all), exemplififed by when Miss/Mr Right comes along, to ride Shank's mare, to be in Civvy Street;

also Nellie (Duff) is, in essence, vicarious, used

euphemistically for 'life'), biblical (4 cases) such as doubting Thomas, St Martin's summer, not to know one from Adam, and other topics used highly generically. Also three of the total of four slang expressions are here; two of these (not on your Nellie, to take the mickey out of someone) have their origins in rhyming slang, and are used euphemistically, while the last has derived through phonetic imitation (all my eye and Betty Martin).

The remaining ten idioms fall in somewhere between the two, with a handful of items potentially derivable among them (Aunt Sally, Tommy rot, Buggins's turn, Tom Tiddler's

ground). It is true, nevertheless, that to some of these items a fictitious or euphemistic origin has been

conjectured: 'Buggins' has sounded to some compilers an average civil servant, 'Sally' a genuine "Mrs Grundy",

'Tommy' a typical industrial worker, and 'Tom Tiddler' could

simply derive via spoonerism from 'Tim Toddler', i.e. an

infant living still in the perfect bliss in his mother's lap.

At the outset, there existed no ungrounded expectations to have the origins derived and dated more clearly than

proved to be the case. This attitude was supported by the finding that the namesakes of the characters appearing in these idioms were traceable to certain factual entities in sociohistoric terms. Nevertheless, no more than very

approximate datings were to be found for each of these

characters (beyond the instanced uses pinpointed by the OED).

Against this background, it is not surprising that the most generic items in the class, neatly exemplified by Miss/Mr Right, Shank's mare, and the generic 'street group' (Carey, Civvy, and Queer Street) were for all sources the most

difficult to assess chronologically.

Category 3: 73 items

On the strength of the findings in Categories 1 and 2, the following question suggested itself at the outset. In what way are the idioms, or, particularly, the proper name

constituents in the idioms, in Category 3 different from those in the former categories? Or, more specifically, are there inherent in them some factors which render them more readily traceable to origins and to the point of time when they were 'born', or at least gained their currency?

A careful study of this group reveals that one common denominator to most of them is that they can be brought back to a definite origin, literary or other, whether authentic or only believed to be so. Among the total of 73 idioms

constituting Category 3, a majority of 45 representatives are so traceable. In addition, among the remaining 28 items 13 go back to a certified historical character (exemplified by

Soapy Sam), leaving thus merely 6 cases as legendary,

fictitious or lacking evidential corroboration (Cain, John Doe, and Davy Jones, for instance), and 9 cases referring to a locality which itself may be well-known but the person or phenomenon associated with it remains without verifiable identity or other undisputable anchorage to historical time (Bronx cheer, Philadelphia lawyer, Kilkenny cats).

Why is it then that these fifteen idioms with a proper name lacking a definite historical connection have reached the full score entitling their entry into Category 3? All these cases have been substantiated clearly by other

historical data, such as newspaper quotation, mention in a private letter, a legal record, or an entry in an official document, and have thus been placeable to a fairly fixed time frame, oftenmost within some decades. This is exemplified by gone for a burton, to send one to Coventry, and to have

kissed the Blarney stone. For some of these idioms an accurate dating would, for apparent reasons, have been practically impossible; for instance in idioms involving a

lengthy historical process until their apt metaphorism has gained full effect (shipshape and Bristol fashion, to talk Billingsgate, to carry coals to Newcastle), and such

extension will render precise dating impossible.