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5 votes
2 answers
369 views

What is the term for using a famous person's name to describe another person? [duplicate]

Names of exceptional people are sometimes used colloquially to describe other people. The most prominent example is referring to someone ironically as "Einstein" or "an Einstein," ...
Paris Geis's user avatar
5 votes
3 answers
1k views

When did calling someone "Einstein" ironically become common?

In “The Children” (1937) by Howard Fast, a mentally-handicapped youngster is ironically referred to as “Thomas Edison” as Edison probably was, in the USA, the best-known "smart guy". Today, ...
releseabe's user avatar
  • 611
12 votes
6 answers
39k views

What does the word "rich" mean in the reactionary sarcastic phrase "That's rich!"?

What does the word "rich" mean in the reactionary sarcastic phrase "That's rich!" (Google shows 67M hits). I take it to mean "rich" as in "rich in irony". What it is the source of the phrase and how ...
Jared Updike's user avatar
  • 1,244