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Jumbo's Big Adventure Popularizes a New Word

Jumbo was originally used as the name for an elephant imported to europe, and then the United States, from Ethiopia. Where his name came from is a mystery lost to the mists of time. Jumbo, however, became famous -- and synonymous with "large" -- through his life in a London zoo and an American circus.

Copyright 2006 NPR

John Ciardi
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