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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
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