tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18926641.post5196694350555955940..comments2023-10-26T10:04:54.665-05:00Comments on The Happy Circumstance: The Original Original Mavericksgrumpshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09641174443445494464noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18926641.post-78889560163578020332008-09-09T07:48:00.000-05:002008-09-09T07:48:00.000-05:00Safire on the origin of the word:That befits a reg...<A HREF="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/02/magazine/02wwln-safire-t.html?ex=1362114000&en=cc40ececbcb54c6a&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss" REL="nofollow">Safire on the origin of the word:</A><BR/><BR/><I>That befits a reg’lar guy trying to head a free people’s government. And while we’re at it, let’s take a run at the Americanism most often tied like a tin can to McCain’s tail: maverick. In the 1840s, Samuel Augustus Maverick was a Texas cattleman who refused to brand his cattle because he said it was cruel to the animals. Rather than hail him as a humane hero, his neighbors denounced him as a damned hypocrite because his kindness enabled him to lay claim to all the unbranded cattle that wandered onto his range. Lawsuits and shoot-’em-ups are said to have followed, but the result was a triumph of eponymy: the cattleman’s name, Maverick, became the word for an animal that bore nobody’s brand.</I>Display Namehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15842340986220388709noreply@blogger.com