Characters
"John Steed." What a horse's arse of a name.
— Sir August de Wynter · The Avengers
Behind the line May contain spoilers.
Our reading
An editorial interpretation.
Repeating the name first sets up the insult that follows. Steed supplies the connection to a horse, which the speaker turns into a crude judgment of the whole name. The attack depends on that verbal association rather than an explanation of anything its owner has done.
Context reviewed