A.Word.A.Day -- AWADmail Issue 1120

My sister, anxious to complete her table clearing task, used to remove food before all were finished. Using her nickname, we called this, “Pulling a Lewi.” Decades later, she still sometimes does this!
-Anita Tourigny, Seattle, Washington (anitamt2000 yahoo.com)

Befitting Taylor Swift’s status as the finest pop songsmith working today, her name might be used to give praise to a songwriter, as in “That’s a well-taylored song.”
-Warrick Harniess, Orinda, California (warrick.harniess gmail.com)

One that used to be used in Australia, but rare now, was “herbing along” (running fast), from the runner Herb Elliott. More broadly speaking, eponyms are a curse to medical students. A common oral exam question based on the names of various tests/procedures/diseases in my time was “Who was ...?” We sometimes took a punt based on the sound of the name and the specialty, for example: “A distinguished French surgeon of the 19th century.” Sometimes with embarrassing results.
-Margaret Furness, Strathalbyn, Australia (mfu19130 bigpond.net.au)

Unhappily, the unwelcome name that comes to mind is one that already makes us wince when spoken in polite company: Trump. I’m afraid that, for decades if not centuries to come, “Trumpian” will be used to describe a despicable, untrustworthy, power-mad narcissist. I pray that we will not have to speak it in whispers.
-John Brownson, Albany, California (jhb johnbrownson.net)

In his Journal, Thoreau renders the noise made by a bullfrog as “trump.” It fits perfectly, and should in time become an eponym. For occurrences, see the index to the edition of Bradford Torrey and Francis H. Allen, s.v. “Bullfrog...trump of.”
-Steve Wailes, Bloomington, Indiana (stephenwailes8 gmail.com)

Of course, there’s a Karen -- a self-important, bigoted woman.
-Paul Norton, New Hope, Minnesota (mullover2 gmail.com)

We had a neighbor who always went back to her door several times to make sure she had locked it. So when I check, re-check and double-check, I’m doing a Miriam.
-Elizabeth Hannan, Tellico Plains, Tennessee (skywayliz gmail.com)

We have a friend named Michelle who’s habitually late. Our circle of friends is all very understanding of this, because she’s in a demanding health-care profession, mothers a special-needs child, and has anxiety issues of her own. Nonetheless, when anyone else in the group is also late (and Michelle herself hasn’t shown up yet to overhear us), we say of the other person that “she’s pulling a Michelle.”
-Richard S. Russell, Madison, Wisconsin (RichardSRussell tds.net)

There was an Uncle Burl in the family who would drive for hours to show up unexpectedly at someone’s house, only to leave 20 minutes later to return home. So we got to referring to anyone who visited only for a short time or who left early as “pulling an Uncle Burl”.
-Sue Uhl, Indianapolis, Indiana (suhl6 icloud.com)

In 2007 I was fired from my state government job (for being transgender) by a man named Sewell R. Brumby. I sued, and my attorney joked that Sewell R. Brumby sounded like the name of a villain in a Dickens novel.
Fortunately, we won our case, so no one else in Georgia will ever be Brumbied.
-Vandy Beth Glenn, Decatur, Georgia (vandy.beth.glenn gmail.com)

Cruz: A vacation at an inopportune time, particularly when you are expected and needed to stay and take care of a situation. “I treated myself to a Cancún pleasure cruz during the flooding.”
-Andy Vetromile, Marietta, Georgia (fnordy1 yahoo.com)

I used to have a co-worker who was always arriving at work mere moments before the commencement of her shift, one Jean Gancarcik. She would dash to the timeclock hoping to punch in before she was officially tardy. Thus whenever someone came in late we said that they were pulling a Gancarcik.
-Tom Furgas, Youngstown, Ohio (tofu4879 gmail.com)

Our friend, Virginia, inevitably left an event midway or at intermission. Thus our shorthand is now - in almost any situation- “Should we pull a Virginia?”
-Anne Lauriat, Waltham, Massachusetts (lauriat aol.com)

A friend, whose last name was Furuya, could tell whether or not a container was the right size to hold something. So in our household when we are putting away leftover food, or pouring the remaining milk into a smaller container to put the larger bottle out for the next delivery, one of us will often say things like “You Furuya-ed that pretty well,” or “I didn’t quite Furuya that.”
-Allan Harvey, Boulder, Colorado (allan.harvey nist.gov)

For several decades, myself, family and friends were subjected to what we came to term The Bill Fraser Question, essentially a rhetorical query, i.e. one whose expected answer was couched in the nature of the question, e.g. “You don’t really want to eat Chinese food tonight, do you?”
Or “You really didn’t like that movie, did you?” or “Do you really think that’s the shortest route to Walla Walla?”
Even when his tendency to frame questions to his own expectations was pointed out, my friend Bill (now likely herding stars in some well-chosen galaxy) studiously ignored such criticism. But he did leave to each of us the ability to catch ourselves and others when caught delivering a “Bill Fraser Question” e.g., “You don’t really enjoy reading Wordsmith, do you?”
-Dave Campbell, Dayton, Washington (museumofdave gmail.com)

I suggest Ingersoll, as for example, “Her/his words were Ingersollian.” This would denote a speech judged to be poetic, profound, bold, wise and original, among other admirable qualities.
-Donald B. Ardell, Gulfport, Florida (awr.realwellness gmail.com)

My fabulous husband Andrew (Drew), rather than using scissors, rips open bags of chips, crackers, cookies etc. so that there’s a gaping hole in the side of the bag. You can’t clip it or use a rubber band to close it. I can’t be angry when I think of our family descriptive name for it: He Drewed it.
-Frances Boninti, Ivy, Virginia (fboninti gmail.com)

Do a Tommy. Tommy Van was a school-age boy in the neighborhood who wasn’t quick to catch on to teasing by other children. The kids would mock him or insult him and he would blink his eyes as the remark went over his head. Eventually the others stopped teasing him because he wouldn’t react. Maybe doing a Tommy would lead to a more peaceful world.
-Irene R. Garcia, Simi Valley, California (iregarcia2 yahoo.com)

I don’t know whose current name is eponym-worthy, but it would be lovely if we could remove the word “trump” from the game of bridge. It’s repellent to have to use that term as the top suit when every mention of the word brings to mind the past-president-who-would-be-dictator.
-Susan Weinstock, Montclair, New Jersey (sweinstock75 gmail.com)