The Many Uses of John

The Many Uses of John The Many Uses of John The Many Uses of John By Maeve Maddox Although male names like Aiden, Jayden, and Santiago lead in popularity among various ethnic and social groups in the U.S., the name John comes only after James as the most popular in the total population according to 1990 census figures. The long-standing popularity of John has spawned numerous expressions in English, not all of them likely to please bearers of the name. Because the name is so common, it has served as a generic appellation for any man, rather like Mac, Jack, and Joe, as in Hey, Mac! Got a light?, Every man jack of them (meaning every single man), and G.I. Joe (any man serving in the military). In the days of the great English manors (think, Downton Abbey), â€Å"John† or â€Å"John Thomas† was used to refer to a man of the servant class such as a footman, butler, or waiter. In time, â€Å"John Thomas† became a euphemism for penis. Another word for the same male body part is â€Å"Johnson.† An anglicized version of French gendarme gave â€Å"johndarm† or â€Å"john,† a slang word for a policeman. â€Å"John Doe† originated in English law as a fictitious name to describe one of the people in person a certain type of litigation. The name has come to be used to refer to an ordinary or typical citizen. A 1941 Frank Capra movie starring Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck, Meet John Doe, focuses on the suffering of homeless and unemployed U.S. citizens. Viewers of police dramas know that â€Å"John Doe† is often used to refer to a corpse whose identity is unknown. A female victim is called a â€Å"Jane Doe.† The word john to refer to a W.C. or toilet may derive from the name of its inventor, Sir John Harington/Harrington (1561-1612), a member of Queen Elizabeth I’s court. The use of john to refer to a prostitute’s client may have something to do with one of the meanings of â€Å"John Thomas.† The word john also occurs in a few noun compounds. A demijohn is a large bottle usually encased in wicker, like a bottle of Chianti, only much bigger. The wicker casing has one or two handles to make the bottle easier to carry. A John boat is a small, flat-bottomed boat used on inland waterways in the U.S. It is also spelled jon boat. A johnny cake in the U.S. is a cake made of cornmeal and toasted before a fire. In Australia, a johnny cake is made of wheat meal and baked on the ashes or fried in a pan. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Comparative Forms of Adjectives50 Nautical Terms in General UseHow Do You Fare?

The Rape of Lucrece Themes

The Rape of Lucrece Themes Shakespeares greatest poem is  The Rape of Lucrece. Explore some of the key themes in this classic text. The Plague It has been suggested that this poem reflects fears about the plague, which was rampant in Shakespeare’s England. The dangers of inviting a stranger into your home could result in your body being ravaged by disease, as Lucrece is ravaged. She kills herself to save her family from shame, but if the rape signifies the plague might she kill herself to prevent the disease from spreading? The play was written at a time when the theaters would have been closed to prevent the spreading of the plague and may, therefore, have informed Shakespeare’s writing. The story would have been familiar to Elizabethans and various versions of it were already available. Love and Sexuality The Rape of Lucrece serves as an antidote to Venus and Adonis in that it provides a moral contrast to how it deals with the idea of love and sexuality. Tarquin is unable to subdue his desires despite misgivings and he suffers for this, as does the undeserving Lucrece and her family. It is a cautionary tale of what can happen if you let your desires run free. Tarquin, Lines 267-271 Why hunt I then for colour or excuses?All orators are dumb when beauty pleadethPoor wretches have remorse in poor abuses;Love thrives not in the heart that shadows dreadeth;Affection is my captain, and he leadeth This play is a contrast to the romantic comedy of As You Like It, for example, where the pursuit of love and affection is treated in a light, though hard-won, way. This poem highlights the dangers of self-satisfaction and pursuing the wrong person. The pastoral is replaced by the military and instead of a game; the pursuit of a woman is seen as the spoils of war but in the end, it is seen for what it is which is a kind of a war crime. The poem comes under the genre known as the complaint, a type of poem which was popular in the late middle ages and Renaissance. This style was particularly popular at the time when this poem was written. A complaint is usually in the form of a monologue in which the narrator laments and bewails their fate or the sad state of the world. The Rape of Lucrece fits the complaints’ highly elaborate style, which uses digressions and long speeches. Themes of Rape Violation often takes Biblical images in The Rape of Lucrece. Tarquin takes on the role of Satan in the garden of Eden, violating an innocent and incorruptible Eve. Collatine takes on the role of Adam, who lures Satan in with his boastful discourse about his wife and her beauty. When he takes the apple from the tree, the Snake enters Lucrece’s bedchamber and violates her. Lines 85-87 This earthly saint adored by this devilLittle suspecteth the false worshipper,For unstained thoughts do seldom dream on evil. Collatine is responsible for inciting Tarquin’s desires and redirecting his rage from the enemy in the field to his own wife. Tarquin becomes jealous of Collatine and instead of vanquishing an army, his desires are redirected towards Lucrece as his prize. Lucrece is described as if she is a work of art; Lines 27-28 Honour and beauty in the owner’s armsAre weakly fortressed from a world of harms. Tarquin’s rape of her is described as if she is a fortress under attack. He conquers her physical attributes. Through her suicide, Lucrece’s body becomes a political symbol. As feminism later coined, the personal is political and the King and his family are finally overthrown to make way for the Republic to be formed. Lines 1849-1855 When they had sworn to this advised doomThey did conclude to bear dead Lucrece thenceTo show her bleeding body thorough Rome,And to publish Tarquin’s foul offence;Which being done with speedy diligence,The Romans plausibly did give consentTo Tarquin’s everlasting banishment. Source Shakespeare, William. The Rape of Lucrece. Paperback, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, March 11, 2018.