Living in Harmony, no doubt.

Craig

Begin forwarded message:

From: Wordsmith <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: November 22, 2007 9:04:14 PM PST
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--Darby and Joan

This week's theme: eponyms -- words coined after someone.

Darby and Joan (DAHR-bee and joan) noun

   A devoted old couple leading a quiet, uneventful life.

[After a couple named in a 18th century poem in The Gentleman's Magazine
(London).]

In 1735 Henry Woodfall, a printer's apprentice, wrote a ballad titled
"The joys of love never forgot: a song" about a happily married elderly couple. His inspiration for those characters was his own boss John Darby
and his wife Joan:

  "Old Darby, with Joan by his side,
   You've often regarded with wonder:
   He's dropsical, she is sore-eyed,
   Yet they're never happy asunder ..."

As you can imagine, he wrote this poem after Darby's death. This poem
in turn became an inspiration for follow-up poems and eventually Darby
and Joan became a metaphor. In the UK, clubs for old people are still
called Darby and Joan clubs.

-Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)

"On the shores of holy Lake Manosarovar there is a nameless hotel run by
   a very elderly couple, a sort of Tibetan Darby and Joan."
Karen Swenson; At Tibetan Hotels, Don't Expect the Light To Be Left On;
   The Wall Street Journal (New York); Dec 4, 2001.

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Pronunciation:
http://wordsmith.org/words/darby_and_joan.wav
http://wordsmith.org/words/darby_and_joan.ram

Permalink: http://wordsmith.org/words/darby_and_joan.html

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Craig Russell
Architect, Sun Java Enterprise System http://java.sun.com/products/jdo
408 276-5638 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
P.S. A good JDO? O, Gasp!

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