"Lin Digs Books" wrote in message
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2. Why would someone named Brian Clark be *inevitably called Nobby*?


From Eric Partridge, *A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English* (8th
ed. 1984):

nobby, n. Alway *the nobby*. The smart thing: 1869, E. Farmer; ob. (*OED*.)
*Ex nobby*, adj.--2. Inevitable nickname (*Nobby*) for any man surnamed
*Clark(e)*: late C.19-20. Also, 'the naval nickname which, originally given
to Admiral Charles Ewart on account of his dapperness, has spred to all
Ewarts and Hewetts' (Bowen): C.20. *Nobby* also a loose var. of *Knobby*.
Clarks are *Nobby* because clerks used, in the City, to wear top hats, i.e.,
*nobby* hats.--3. The ship *Niobe*: RN:--1909 (Ware).--4. *Nobbie*
(or -*by*), 'used when name of colleague is not known' (*Evening News*, 27
Apr. 1954): busmen's: since ca. 1940. Ex sense 2.

nobby, adj. Very smart, elegant, or fashionable. Of persons: from ca.
1808. A broadside ballad of ca. 1810, 'A werry nobby dog's meat man'. (Cf.
*nifty*, q.v.) Of places or things: 1844, C. Selby, 'My togs being in
keeping with this nobby place'; 1852, 'The nobbiest way of keeping it
quiet'. Ex Scots *knabbie* or *knabby* (1788, Picken, 'Mony a knabbie
laird': *OED*); see also *nob*, n., 4.



William M. Klimon
http://www.gateofbliss.com