Transferred aggression is a negative trait – even when born out of frustration. Proverbially speaking, it is like victimising the hen at home because a sparrow devoured one’s corn in the farm. So, one ...

Some epithets are really quite brilliant: wanker, for example, with its intimations of onanistic futility, is one of the best. (But then, the Brits, who invented the term, are so much more elegant ...

Some figures from history lead such remarkable (or notorious) lives that they earn themselves an epithet that remains in use long after their death. More often than not these nicknames are used either ...

TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. About the Archive This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online ...