Sunday, December 2, 2007

Which Would You Rather Have Named After You?

A city or an adjective?

6 comments:

Lincoln Davis said...

A city - no-one names cities derogatorily, but there are plenty of derogatory nominative adjectives. I'd hate for "Lincolnian" to mean behaving like a &*(^%(#.

Thomas Banks said...

And yet it is more difficult to bulldoze an adjective.

Evan Gunn said...

a city. Great way to start world domination

Jeff Moss said...

From the online "Copyeditor's Handbook":

"This device [i.e. forming adjectives based on personal names] should be used with care. If the individual is not of sufficient stature to merit adjectivalization, some readers will take the usage to be satiric or parodic."

So on the whole, I'd go for the city.

Thomas Banks said...

In your case, I would as well. A little paint on the "Welcome to" signs on the edge of town and you've got "Mosscow"

Jeff Moss said...

That's me, all right -- the heart of the arts. :-)