"That's a great deal to make one word mean," Alice said in a thoughtful tone. "When I make a word do a lot of work like that," said Humpty Dumpty, "I always pay it extra."

Tuesday 17 March 2009

Albert


What have the Prince Consort of Queen Victoria of England (1819-1861), a high quality car, a railway engine, a slipper, horseradish sauce and a watch chain all got in common?

The answer - as you will have guessed from the header - is the name Albert.


The Albert was a high quality British automobile designed by A. O. Lord and manufactured in Vauxhall between 1920 and 1924. The car was powered by a proprietary 1495 cc ohv engine made by Gwynne and boasted a radiator similar to that of the Rolls-Royce. The body was mainly made of aluminium and most were 4 seat tourers.


An Albert was also a men’s slipper style with a tongue like extension of the upper over the instep.


Albert is a French name for English hot horseradish sauce.


Albert is also a red Furness Railway J1 2-4-2 tank engine with a yellow FR on him who worked on the Lakeside branch, as seen in the book Thomas and Victoria by Reverend W.V. Awdry.


The watch chain on the left is a double albert and on the right a single albert.

Quite a useful word, old Albert!

No comments:

Post a Comment