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Show o ' " - THE ROMANCE OF WORDS "bvu." LIKE "boycott," "Jazz," "bun-combe" "bun-combe" and a number of other words which nre now acknowledged ac-knowledged members of tho English lamlly, "dun" had Its origin In a man of that nat.te u certain John Dun, who was constable con-stable In England during tho early part of the last century. Dun, as might bo supposed, was a past muster of his profession, profes-sion, n successful collector of debts. No Job was too hard for him to tackle, no debtors too callous for htm to prlclr their conscience or shame them Into payment In one way or another, Ono of the constable's pet schemes was to call upon n debtor twice, and on each of his first two visits he would wear his ordinary clothes. Then, If the debtor still refused to pay und there was no doubt that obligation ob-ligation should bo met, Dun would adopt tho stratagem of dressing in somo outlandish costume cos-tume a scarfet cloak or a ryulr of green tights so as to make hlniself as conspicuous as possible. pos-sible. Thus attired and ringing a bell In order further to proclaim pro-claim the reason- for his visit, ho would return, and It was seldom that tho debtor withstood more Uian one of theso public announcements an-nouncements of his delinquency. Because Constablo Dun was so successful in tho collection of money due It became common in such cases to say, "You'll havo to send Dun for your money" mon-ey" or "You'll havo to Dun him to get It," and tho expression persisted long aftor the constable con-stable himself was dead and for gotten. (Copyright) |