The word factotum, for handyman, is from New Latin’s factotum, meaning “to do everything”. Latin had fac, the present singular imperative of faciō - “do or make” plus tōtum, “everything” and its first recorded use in English is from 1566. From the “It Always Sound Better in French” file, consider bricoleur, a handyman who loves cheese, Gauloises, berets and minor plumbing tasks. Here at Bellevue House, the Olivers’s sprawling Saratoga Springs estate, we have such a worker in the person of Alistair MacTinkle, the groundskeeper. He has the intellect of a stoat.
© 2024 John Oliver
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