What is the true origin of"The Orchid Man"?

[Caractacus]

Does anyone here know exactly how or why the light-Heavyweight Champion of the World,
Georges Carpentier,came by that particular nickname?
I seem to remember Bert Sugar saying it was because that he walked around with an orchid on his lapel,
but personally I think that is BS.
Besides I have my own theory and would like to hear any others before I post it here.

[HomicideHenry]

He plucked alot of petals.... to put it politely.

[HyacinthusTurnipseed]

The word orchid comes from the Ancient Greek for testicle, FYI. Doubt that it is relevant though - as if his contemporaries were trying to find a discreet way of saying that he was a ballsy fighter or something. To me the orchid on the lapel story sounds perfectly plausible (at least comparatively).

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=orchid

[Old bones Ian]

He plucked alot of petals.... to put it politely.

Yes he certainly didn't struggle to get a lady

[Caractacus]

Yes he certainly didn't struggle to get a lady

You may be the closet to my theory(or rather observation as to how he got his nickname).

[orbtastic]

He liked orchids?

[evrenb]

He liked orchids?

What do orchids look like??

[Caractacus]

He liked orchids?

What do orchids look like??

They look like a whole bunch of trees planted together really close.

[orbtastic]

He liked orchids?

What do orchids look like??

Google it, they come in all colours.

[evrenb]

He liked orchids?

What do orchids look like??

Google it, they come in all colours.

Not sure who's kidding who here :

[evrenb]

[misterpunch]

that's a shot of carpentier before the Dempsey fight

[Caractacus]

here is a link to the offical web site of Georges Carpentier.
It is run by Christopher Rivers who said a few years ago that he was going to write a biography on him.
(looks like he may have added some stuff on the web site since last looked a few months ago)
I wonder if he explains somewhere how Carpentier got the nickname of"The Orchid Man"
(I think he goes beyond just wearing an orchid as a corsage on his lapel).


http://georgescarpentier.org

[Cap]

It appears that it didn't really crop up until the Dempsey fight and most blamed it on an unknown Boston sportswriter's wired report from one of the camps. Just some hack looking for a new angle, a way of sticking out of the thousands of words pouring out in the press in the weeks leading up to the Fight of the Century.

[Caractacus]

well here is my theory(or rather observation on it)
Its an old phrase thats fallen out of favour over the decades.
phrases you dont hear anymore and wonder what they mean.

Such as when Jack Sharkey had told the press that he had"The Indian Sign"
on Black fighters whenever he fought them,just before he fought Joe Louis.

or the phrase
"Ballin'the Chain"
which I use to hear some people use every now back in the 1960's and in the 1970's
(I had head that phrase twice the other day on a oldies Rock N Roll station
on two songs,one by Bill Hailey& the Comets and another on a Chuck Berry tune,
both songs were from around 1955-1956.
(it means to get away real fast)

also more recently here a poster from the UK wanted to know what the phrase "Bogart"
meant,because Larry Holmes used it once to describe sparring with Muhammad Ali
back in 1974.
As I remember from the late 1960's,thats sort of a hippie generation phrase that means to"hold close tightly .
It may be older of course.

[delisa]

Bogart was based on the peculiar way Hump. Bogart cupped a cigarette.

[Caractacus]

For some reason listening to this song always reminds me of Christman 1968
(Those were the Days !).


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvGJvzwKqg0

[SamWise72]

Bogart would hold a cigarette whilst talking, and not smoke it. Hippies would use that in reference to not passing a joint. I guess Ali was Bogarting a Smokin' Joe

[Caractacus]

here is the page in Larry Holmes autobiography were he says Ali had"Bogarted" him during sparring sessions.


http://www.books.google.com/books?id=dV ... &pg=165&dq

[Caractacus]

well here is my theory(or rather observation on it)
Its an old phrase thats fallen out of favour over the decades.
phrases you dont hear anymore and wonder what they mean.

Such as when Jack Sharkey had told the press that he had"The Indian Sign"
on Black fighters whenever he fought them,just before he fought Joe Louis.

or the phrase
"Ballin'the Chain"
which I use to hear some people use every now back in the 1960's and in the 1970's
(I had head that phrase twice the other day on a oldies Rock N Roll station
on two songs,one by Bill Hailey& the Comets and another on a Chuck Berry tune,
both songs were from around 1955-1956.
(it means to get away real fast)

also more recently here a poster from the UK wanted to know what the phrase "Bogart"
meant,because Larry Holmes used it once to describe sparring with Muhammad Ali
back in 1974.
As I remember from the late 1960's,thats sort of a hippie generation phrase that means to"hold close tightly .
It may be older of course.

"the Indian Sign" was an old expression in American vanacular that isnt hardly used anymore.
It meant that someone could make another person feel inferior and inadequat whenever they wanted to
when they were around.

I watched the Audie Murphy Western DUEL AT SILVER CREEK
and the phrase was used in it a couple of times.