Another Irish name which has given us a common word is Burke. Sometimes in a discussion one person will tell another that he _burkes_ the question. This means that he is avoiding the real subject of debate. Or a rumour may be _burked_, or "hushed up." In this way the subject is, as it were, smothered. And it was from this meaning that the name came to be used as a general word. William Burke was an Irish labourer who was executed in 1829, when he was found guilty of having murdered several people. His habit had been to smother them, so that their bodies did not show how they had died, and sell their bodies to a doctor for dissection. From this dreadful origin we have the new use of this fine old Irish name. People who love books are often very indignant when the editors of a new edition of an old book think it proper to leave out certain passages which they think are indecent or unsuitable for people to read. This is called "expurgating" the book; but people who disapprove often call it to _bowdlerize_. This word comes from the name of Dr. Thomas Bowdler, who in 1818 published an edition of Shakespeare's works in which, as he said, "those words and expressions are omitted which cannot with propriety be read aloud in a family." Sometimes a badly-dressed or peculiar-looking person is described as a _guy_. This word comes from the name of Guy Fawkes, the Gunpowder Plotter, through the effigies, or "guys," which are often burned in bonfires on November 5th. Certain Christian names have, for reasons which it is not easy to see, given us words which mean "fool" or "stupid person." The word _ninny_ comes from Innocent. _Noddy_ probably comes from Nicodemus or Nicholas. Both these names are used to mean "foolish person" in France, and so is _benet_, which comes from Benedict. Some saints' names have given us words which do not seem at first sight to have any connection with them. The word _maudlin_, by which we mean "foolishly sentimental," comes from the name of St. Mary Magdalen, a saint whose name immediately suggests to us sorrow and weeping. The word _maudlin_ suggests the idea of being ready to weep unnecessarily. In this way a word describing a disagreeable quality is taken from the name of one of the most honoured saints. The word _tawdry_, by which we mean cheap and showy things with no real beauty, comes from St. Audrey, another name for St. Etheldreda, who founded Ely Cathedral. In the Middle Ages St. Audrey's Fair used to be held at Ely, and as fairs are always full of cheap and showy things, it was from this that the word _tawdry_ came.