Recent abuse of the word “maverick” prompted me to do some Lazy Bastard Research on the term (read: I looked it up on wikipedia). Excerpts —
Samuel Augustus Maverick
Maverick steadfastly refused to brand his cattle. As a result, the word maverick entered the English lexicon, meaning both an unbranded range animal as well as a slang term for someone who exhibits a streak of stubborn independence.
Maverick’s stated reason for not branding his cattle was that he didn’t want to inflict pain on them. Other ranchers however, suspected that his true motivation was that it allowed him to collect any unbranded cattle and claim them as his own.
In fact, Maverick’s failure to brand his cattle had little to do with independent mindedness, but reflected his lack of interest in ranching.
He is the grandfather of U.S. Congressman Maury Maverick, who coined the term gobbledygook (1944).
Innnnteresting.
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