Physics Guy wrote: Fri Jan 10, 2025 6:22 am
Genghis Khan, Salt Bae. Some cultures simply have the opposite ordering convention for titles, as also happens for forenames and surnames. Kim Jong-Il is Mr Kim. If the figure only becomes known in English when they are already known with the title in another language, it may be kept.
Jack the Ripper, Alexander the Great. We don't say Ripper Jack or Great Alexander, though we could, grammatically. When the title is supposed to identify one unique person, it is often appended in English.
I'm not sure Winnie-the-Pooh counts. It's hyphenated, and it's unclear whether Pooh is a title. The only explanation ever given is Christopher Robin's, "Don't you know what 'ther' means?"
Good examples, all!
Especially Pooh.
This came to light when Francesca Ling queried “is it Squiggly Squirrel or Squiggly the squirrel?”
My response was “it’s both” … see slogfrog.com for context.
No wonder she played a friend of the friend of God on TV.
(The Stacks is where I be hanging, thanks to Juniper and me many friends that showed me the way and strapped me in.)