Text 11870, 60 rader
Skriven 2008-03-03 22:38:54 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
  Kommentar till text 11868 av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
Ärende: ...but names will never hurt me... (was: Art)
=====================================================
Hello Robert,

On Monday March 03 2008 08:19, you wrote to me:

 MV>> I do not think I will ever learn to deal properly with this Anglo
 MV>> Saxon oddity of assigning nicknames that have no apparent audible
 MV>> or visual relation with the original name.

 MV>> William  ->  Bill
 MV>> Margaret ->  Peggy
 MV>> Robert   ->  Bob
 MV>> Richard  ->  Dick

 MV>> Weird...

 RB> And yet you know me for years, realize my name is "Robert" but that
 RB> I've called myself "Bob" for most of my life. When I was a kid, people
 RB> called me "Bobby".

I know that, but I would never have made the connection myself without being
told.

 RB> I can understand the confusion, and didn't realize myself that Peggy
 RB> was a nickname for Margaret (I'm more used to "Maggie" or "Madge") -
 RB> it may even be you're mistaken here and Peggy is a nickname for
 RB> Patricia. But the rest are correct, in any case.

I am very sure about the "Margaret/Peggy" connection. I knew the lady very
well, I still have the knife she gave me for my birthday when I was a Boy
Scout. Me and my sister called her "aunt Margaret". My father called her
Peggy....

The reason you have never heard of it may be that it is Brittish, not American.

 RB> However, such things are by no means "anglo-saxon". In Germany,
 RB> "Gerhard" is often called "Gerd", "Ulrike" is often "Uschi" or "Rieke"
 RB> and the like.

That is different. I specifically mentioned "nicknames that have no apparent
audible or visual relation with the original name." For the German examples
there *is* a visible and/or audible connection.

 RB>  And in Russia, things are even more complex: "Sergei" becomes
 RB> "Sascha" and "Natalie" becomes "Natascha".

Still a connection although not as clear as in German.

 RB> I suppose there are such names in every language, possibly even in
 RB> Dutch.

Of course. Even for my own name. "Chiel" or "Giel" is common. Somewhat less
common are "Mik", "Mick" and "Mischa". But in all those cases there is a
visible/audible connection. There is none - at least not apparent to me - in
many of the Anglo Saxon cases.


Cheers, Michiel

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