Idioms with personal names

We have analyzed 73 idioms with personal names and while analyzing the idiom we have noticed that they could be divided into groups according to their origins. We distinguished the following groups:

1. Names derived from mythology.

2. Names derived from religion.

3. Names based on characters of the books, films, cartoons etc.

4. Names derived from folk mythology.

5. Names of the real persons.

6. Others.

Results of this analysis are shown in figure № 2.

Figure № 2.Origin of personal names in idioms

According to the results we made conclusions that religion and mass media influence people’s language the most. Idioms with these names are quite popular and very often used in spoken language. For example, idioms based on religion characters:

1. Raise Cain – to complain a lot about something in an angry or noisy way because you are determined to get what you want (www.usingenglish.com).

2. Put the fear of God into somebody – to make someone feel frightened of doing something wrong by making them realize the bad things that could happen if they do it (Longman Idioms Dictionary: 1999:139).

3. Adam's apple – the Adam's apple is a bulge in the throat, mostly seen in men (www.usingenglish.com).

Let us see the origin of the name Cain –this personwas the first murderer according to scriptural accounts in the Bible – Genesis 4 and in the Qur'an – 5:27-32. The biblical account, from the King James' Version, tells us how Cain and Abel, the two sons of Adam and Eve, bring offerings to God, but only Abel's is accepted. Cain kills Abel in anger and is cursed by God ().

The next big group is idioms with personal names which are taken from famous books, songs, cartoons. For example:

1. Rip van Winkle – Rip van Winkle is a character in a story that slept for twenty years, so if someone is a Rip van Winkle, they are behind the times and out of touch with what is happening now (www.usingenglish.com).

2. Mickey Mouse – something that is intellectually trivial or not of a very high standard (www.usingenglish.com).

3. Live a life of Riley – used in order to say that someone has a very comfortable, easy life without having to work hard or worry about money (Longman Idioms Dictionary: 1999:210).

Let us look at the origin of the name Riley – this phrase originated in a popular song of the 1880s, “Is That Mr. Reilly?” by Pat Rooney, which described, what its hero would do if he suddenly came into a fortune (http://www.answers.com/topic/life-of-riley).

Idioms with personal names that are related to real persons are also often used in the English language. We have found 13 idioms of this kind. For example:

1. Bob’s your uncle – said after you tell someone how to do something, in order to emphasize that it will be simple and will definitely achieve the result they want (Longman Idioms Dictionary: 1999:33).

2. Look a right Charlie – to look very strange or stupid, so that people laugh at you, or feel that people are going to laugh at you (Longman Idioms Dictionary: 1999:58).

3. 50 million Elvis fans can’t be wrong – used to say that something must be true because so many people think so (Longman Idioms Dictionary: 1999:103).

Two well-known persons in our examples are Elvis Presley and Charlie Chaplin. Let us look at the example Bob’s your uncle. It is a catchphrase dating back to 1887, when British Prime Minister Lord Salisbury decided to appoint a certain Arthur Balfour to the prestigious and sensitive post of Chief Secretary for Ireland. Not lost on the British public was the fact that Lord Salisbury just happened to be better known to Arthur Balfour as “Uncle Bob”. In the resulting furor over what was seen as an act of blatant nepotism, “Bob's your uncle” became a popular sarcastic comment applied to any situation where the outcome was preordained by favoritism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob's_your_uncle).

The smallest group found in our research was idioms with personal names originated from mythology. In spite of that, we could not say that those idioms are unknown or used very rarely. We have selected 10 idioms of this kind. Let us look at the examples:

1. Achilles' heel – a weakness of someone’s character that causes them problems, or the weak part of a place, system, argument where it can easily be attacked or criticized (www.usingenglish.com).

2. Midas touch – the ability to earn money very easily (www.usingenglish.com).

3. A sword of Damocles – something bad that may affect your situation at any time and make it much worse (Longman Idioms Dictionary: 1999:335).

All these persons are well-known from Greek mythology. The death of Achilles was not mentioned in Homer’s Iliad, but appeared in later Greek and Roman poetry and drama concerning events after the Iliad, later in the Trojan War. According to a myth arising later, his mother, Thetis, had dipped the infant Achilles in the river Styx, holding onto him by his heel, and he became invulnerable where the waters touched him -- that is, everywhere but the areas covered by her thumb and forefinger – implying that only a heel wound could have been his downfall.