Fop

[David Myer]

I watched Nigel Hawthorne in The Madness of King George yesterday and found myself using the word 'fop' in describing his son (later George the fourth). So wondered about fop and its derivation. In doing a little research I discovered lots of completely different words for the same thing - such as coxcomb and dandy. Most of them look like early english words. Perhaps England was filled with such characters and so needed lots of words to describe them each with its own nuance of meaning. Any ideas on the origin of this one?

[Slava]

Treated here.

[David Myer]

Thanks again Slava. I always do a search for any word I suggest and it now seems the searches don't always work. I wonder if a search in Suggestions database, searches Discussion database too?

[Slava]

It depends on how you search. If you do it from any plain page, it should search the entire Board. You can also do an advanced search, with various options available. I also try to remember always to check the Good Word Dictionary, which has all the words done. Every once it a while one doesn't make it to the Agora, but they all go there. That's why from time to time you'll see a word in the Discussion section that I posted. When I find one that didn't get cross posted, I do it.