This week's theme: eponyms -- words coined after someone.
Darby and Joan (DAHR-bee and joan) noun
A devoted old couple leading a quiet, uneventful life.
[After a couple named in a 18th century poem in The
Gentleman's Magazine (London).]
In 1735 Henry Woodfall, a printer's apprentice, wrote
a ballad titled "The joys of love never forgot: a song"
about a happily married elderly couple. His inspiration
for those characters was his own boss John Darby and
his wife Joan:
"Old Darby, with Joan by his side,
You've often regarded with wonder:
He's dropsical, she is sore-eyed,
Yet they're never happy asunder ..."
As you can imagine, he wrote this poem after Darby's
death. This poem in turn became an inspiration for
follow-up poems and eventually Darby and Joan became
a metaphor. In the UK, clubs for old people are still
called Darby and Joan clubs.
-Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)