JarekSteliga
Member
- Joined
- Nov 30, 2011
- Member Type
- Interested in Language
- Native Language
- Polish
- Home Country
- Poland
- Current Location
- Poland
I read this in a book:
"The company had been founded by a genuine British here, Noel Pemberton-Billing. He was a yachtsman and racing driver, and decided in 1913 he should learn to fly. But being double barrelled, he wasn't going to take his time. In fact he bet a friend 500 GBP he could get an aviator's licence not in a day - but before breakfast. And he did.
Does "double barrelled" mean, "impatient" or something similar, or does it just point to the fact that someone's family name consists of two parts? In the latter case, I do not see the connection between Noel Pemberton-Billing's double barrelledness and his reluctance not to take his time.
Or is - as I am now beginning to reflect after having written the above - a double barrelled name suggestive of a person bearing it being of no ordinary pedigree and therefore not wont to wait for anything (like in line or for his turn etc.)
"The company had been founded by a genuine British here, Noel Pemberton-Billing. He was a yachtsman and racing driver, and decided in 1913 he should learn to fly. But being double barrelled, he wasn't going to take his time. In fact he bet a friend 500 GBP he could get an aviator's licence not in a day - but before breakfast. And he did.
Does "double barrelled" mean, "impatient" or something similar, or does it just point to the fact that someone's family name consists of two parts? In the latter case, I do not see the connection between Noel Pemberton-Billing's double barrelledness and his reluctance not to take his time.
Or is - as I am now beginning to reflect after having written the above - a double barrelled name suggestive of a person bearing it being of no ordinary pedigree and therefore not wont to wait for anything (like in line or for his turn etc.)