Sobriquet
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A sobriquet is a nickname or a fancy name, usually a familiar name given by others as distinct from a pseudonym assumed as a disguise, but a nickname which is familiar enough such that it can be used in place of a real name without the need of explanation. This salient characteristic, that is, of sufficient familiarity, is most easily noted in cases where the sobriquet becomes more familiar than the original name for which it was formed as an alternative. For example, Genghis Khan, who is rarely recognized now by his original name "Temüjin"; and the British Whig party, which acquired its sobriquet from the British Tory Party as an insult.
Two early variants are found, sotbriquet and soubriquet; the latter form is still often used, though it is not the correct modern French spelling. The first form suggests a derivation from sot, foolish, and briquet, a French adaptation of Ital. brichetto, diminutive of bricco, ass, knave, possibly connected with briccone, rogue, which is supposed to be a derivative of Ger. brechen, to break; but Skeat considers this spelling to be due to popular etymology, and the real origin is to be sought in the form soubriquet.
Littré gives an early 14th century soubsbriquet as meaning a chuck under the chin, and this would be derived from soubs, mod. sous (Lat. sub), under, and briquet or bruchel, the brisket, or lower part of the throat.
Sobriquets are often found in politics. Candidates and political figures are often branded with sobriquets, either contemporarily or historically. For example, American President Abraham Lincoln came to be known as Honest Abe. Sobriquets are not always used to highlight virtuous qualities, either. A banking tycoon and politician from Knoxville, Tennessee named Jake Butcher was known as "Jake the Snake" after being indicted and subsequently convicted for bank fraud.
Fowler's Modern English Usage (1926) warned, "Now the sobriquet habit is not a thing to be acquired, but a thing to be avoided; & the selection that follows is compiled for the purpose not of assisting but of discouraging it." Fowler included the sobriquet among what he termed the "battered ornaments" of the language.
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[edit] Well-known sobriquets
A list of sobriquets, with citations verifiying usage.
[edit] A-C
- Albion – Great Britain
- Alma Mater – (One's own) University
- Blighty – Great Britain (used by British servicemen abroad)
- Brillo Pad – Andrew Neil
- Brummie – a person from Birmingham
- Buddha – Siddhartha Gautama
- Cockney – a Londoner
- Columbia – The United States or The Americas
[edit] D-G
- Foggy Bottom– the United States State Department
- The Fourth Estate – the press
- Garrincha – Manoel Francisco dos Santos
- Genghis Khan – Temüjin
- Geordie – a person from Newcastle-upon-Tyne
- Godfather of Soul – James Brown
- GOP (Grand Old Party)– Republican Party (United States)
- Gotham – New York City
- Grits, – a media term for the Liberal Party of Canada
[edit] H-M
- John Bull – England, or an Englishman
- The King of Pop – Michael Jackson
- The Lucky Country[1] – Australia
- Mackem – a person from Sunderland
- Manitas de Plata – Flamenco guitarist Ricardo Baliardo
- The Material Girl – Madonna
- The Myth; Bodybuilding great Sergio Oliva.
[edit] N-S
- The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street – the Bank of England
- Pelé – Edson Arantes do Nascimento
- Perfidious Albion – Great Britain
- Ragin' Cajun – James Carville
- Rats of Tobruk - the garrison of Tobruk during the Siege of Tobruk in World War II
- Rivaldo – Vítor Borba Ferreira
- Ronaldinho – Ronaldo de Assis Moreira
- Sassenach – an Englishman (used by Scots)
- Satchmo – Louis Armstrong
- Scouser – a Liverpudlian
- Slick Willy – Bill Clinton
- Sheets – Robert Byrd -- U.S. Senator with KKK affiliation.
- Surrender Monkey – a French Politician
[edit] T-Z
- Target Australia Pty Ltd is often intentionaly mispronouced as ([tʰa:ˈʒeɪ]) to sound French.
- Tory – a member or supporter of the British or Canadian Conservative Party
- Teflon Don – mobster John Gotti
- Tricky Dick – President Richard Nixon
- Uncle Sam – the U.S.A.
- Weegie – a person from Glasgow
- Westminster – the British Parliament
- Westminster Abbey – The Collegiate Church of St Peter, Westminster
- Whig – a member of the late 17th to mid 19th Century British "Country Party"
- Whitehall – the British government including Parliament but excluding the monarchy
- Yankee – (derogatory in some contexts) a person from the United States (usual usage outside the US) or from the Northeast or New England (in American usage).
[edit] See also
- Nickname
- Offensive terms per nationality
- Pop icon
- List of monarchs by nickname
- List of nicknames of European Royalty and Nobility
- List of United States Presidential nicknames
- List of city nicknames
- List of English football club nicknames
- List of basketball nicknames
- List of North American football nicknames
- List of sportspeople by nickname
[edit] Reference
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
