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A Robyn, as a matter of fact...
...Robyn Hitchcock, one of me favourite songsters :)
...Robyn Hitchcock, one of me favourite songsters :)
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Do you know the 60s song - a UK group, can't remember their name - called Pretty Flamingo? In which all the boys lust after this unattainable woman in a crimson dress who reminds them of a flamingo when she walks?
Not ornithologists! In fact, if they'd ever seen a real flamingo (with its head on upside down and those thi-i-in legs) they'd have known better. Catchy song, though. Bet nobody has ever named their daughter Flamingo after it!
Not ornithologists! In fact, if they'd ever seen a real flamingo (with its head on upside down and those thi-i-in legs) they'd have known better. Catchy song, though. Bet nobody has ever named their daughter Flamingo after it!
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The name was first - the bird later.
Not vice versa.
Not vice versa.
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At the risk of becoming tiresome...
...Pagona is a *contemporary* Greek name. It means peacock and is derived from the ancient Greek word for peacock, paos/taos.
It is patently false that the name came first and the bird later.
...Pagona is a *contemporary* Greek name. It means peacock and is derived from the ancient Greek word for peacock, paos/taos.
It is patently false that the name came first and the bird later.
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That's true in the case of Robin, but . . .
. . . it certainly isn't the case with all bird names. Wren, for example, is occasionally used for girls these days, but was certainly not in use as a personal name prior to its use for the bird
(http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=wren). Likewise for Lark (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=lark)
Just because you find the use of the word "peacock" as a name a little ridiculous doesn't mean that some Greek parents of the early 1900s did not think it was lovely.
♦ Chrisell ♦
All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us. - J.R.R. Tolkien.
. . . it certainly isn't the case with all bird names. Wren, for example, is occasionally used for girls these days, but was certainly not in use as a personal name prior to its use for the bird
(http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=wren). Likewise for Lark (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=lark)
Just because you find the use of the word "peacock" as a name a little ridiculous doesn't mean that some Greek parents of the early 1900s did not think it was lovely.
All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us. - J.R.R. Tolkien.
This message was edited 8/10/2005, 6:29 AM
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I agree Chrisell! Taste for names evolves and there is no accounting for it. In the early 20th century, Pagona was indeed quite chic. Today it is on the picturesque side, unless one is a dedicated ornithologist.
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