[lit-ideas] Re: Guppy
- From: david ritchie <ritchierd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 18 Dec 2005 16:37:48 -0800
I can supply what none of the guppy websites seems to know--an origin
for the popular aquarium fish's name. Whether 'tis a true origin
will be for research teams to decide. The guppy was named after a
member of a family that was interested in names.
see: http://genuki.cs.ncl.ac.uk/DEV/DevonSurnames/Part1.html
The story, as my father tells it, is that when he was field engineer
of an oil field in Trinidad, someone of that name at an adjacent
field became interested in the varieties of fish in local ponds, so
interested that he sent some home to England, where they were called
"Mr. Guppy's fish," or guppies. Since the websites say the fish
originated, like Paddington bear, in Peru, one wonders. But there it
is.
David Ritchie
Portland, Oregon
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