Nominative determinism is the hypothesis that people are drawn to professions that fit their name. The term was first used in the magazine New Scientist in 1994, after its humorous Feedback column mentioned a book on polar explorations by Daniel Snowman and an article on urology by researchers named Splatt and Weedon. The hypothesis had been suggested by psychologist Carl Jung, citing as an example Sigmund Freud (German for "joy"), who studied pleasure. A few recent empirical studies have indicated that certain professions are disproportionately represented by people with appropriate surnames, though the methods of these studies have been challenged. One explanation for nominative determinism is the theory of implicit egotism, which states that humans have an unconscious preference for things they associate with themselves. An alternative explanation is genetic: an ancestor might have been named Smith or Taylor according to their occupation, and the genes they passed down might correlate to aptitudes for those professions.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nominative_determinism

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1293:

Robert Winchelsey left England for Rome to be consecrated by the Pope, only to find that there wasn't one. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Winchelsey

1871:

Richard Plantagenet Campbell Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos- Grenville, 3rd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos opened a new train line, using horses instead of locomotives. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brill_Tramway

1924:

Wrigley Jr. opened a company, packaging chewing gum with each can of baking powder. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrigley_Company

1947:

Over 20% of the Royal New Zealand Navy took the day off. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1947_Royal_New_Zealand_Navy_mutinies

1997:

Marriage in the Netherlands became more samey. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex_marriage_in_the_Netherlands

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

Banbury story of a cock and a bull: (idiomatic, obsolete, slang, Britain) A roundabout, nonsensical story. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Banbury_story_of_a_cock_and_a_bull

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

All of us, if we are of reflective habit, like and admire men whose fundamental beliefs differ radically from our own. But when a candidate for public office faces the voters he does not face men of sense; he faces a mob of men whose chief distinguishing mark is the fact that they are quite incapable of weighing ideas, or even of comprehending any save the most elemental — men whose whole thinking is done in terms of emotion, and whose dominant emotion is dread of what they cannot understand. So confronted, the candidate must either bark with the pack or count himself lost. … All the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre — the man who can most adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum. The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.   --H. L. Mencken https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/H._L._Mencken