Sobriquets

"No," I defend my statement from my young critic. "That is not a Trumpian-like remark."  I use the term as a descriptor, not in any derogatory sense. When I say that one of my doctors looks like a beetle, it's because of his apparent work ethic in addition to his physical appearance------small, compact shape, economy of movement, most noticeable now that he's clad in mask and gown.

  Harking back to my early childhood, as well as recalling works of literature---think Angela's Ashes---I think it's an Irish thing. I remember hearing my mother in conversation with her sister and their mother referring to the hoi polloi and the mucky-mucks.  And of course to Harry Horsecollar. He was the hired man on a neighboring farm who, after his horse died, put the horse collar around his own neck to plow the fields. 

  On the drive "over home" to my grandmother's house, there was a smallish house quite near the road. It had a front porch, and near the end of the day, the people who lived there would sit on the porch. In those days it was the thing to do, watch the cars go by. They were always bundled up in their chairs.  Against the evening chill, and most likely to ward off mosquitoes. Besides myself, there is only one person left who would remember how my parents always referred to those folks; they called them the Potato Bugs. That house is still there. I drove past it last week. The porch was decorated with flowers and plants, but no people were sitting on it. Times change.