When I was young, in the nineteen-forties
many older people were called Queenie.
It was several decades later that I realised
that they were baptised Victoria.
The other week I learned
that the very English-sounding Jennifer
is simply a transcription
of the Dutch genever (juniper, gin)
which the Dutch king William III
encouraged the English population to make and drink
instead of Papist French brandy.
more on the introduction of gin to England >
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