The word for today is…

gargoyle (noun):

1a: a spout in the form of a grotesque human or animal figure projecting from a roof gutter to throw rainwater clear of a building
b: a grotesquely carved figure
2: a person with an ugly face

Source : Merriam -Webster

Etymology : In the 12th century, St. Bernard of Clairvaux reportedly complained about the new sculptures in the cloisters where he lived. “Surely,” he is quoted as saying, “if we do not blush for such absurdities we should at least regret what we have spent on them.” St. Bernard was apparently provoked by the grotesque figures designed to drain rainwater from buildings. By the 13th century, those figures were being called gargoyles, a name that came to Middle English from the Old French word gargoule. The stone beasts likely earned that name because of the water that gargled out of their throats and mouths; the word gargoule is imitative in origin.

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David is a retired surgeon originally from London who came to New Zealand twenty-seven years ago after being delayed in Singapore for thirteen years on leaving the UK. He was coerced into studying Latin...