The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1910-05-04
LITERARY MAGAZINE
How Nicknames Happen
By AVIS GORDON vEsTAL

(cripple), Badly, Bulhead. Rosebud. etc
Place of residence laid its name upon the
families of Hill Field Meadows London,
Bank. Van Buren, Grom town in HollandD,
Washington drom Wessyngton. in England>,
Monroe (Mont Roe. lrelandp, and perhaps
upon your distinguished relatives Cut sim
arly to these are the help-out names Chin
csc Gordon (who won his fame as gen
eral in Il war there. Red River Nose. or
Texas Tom. Nationality is related to place
and we have families of French. Spain, Eng
land and nicknames such as Dutch Swede
and Mexico.
Endearment is motive leading us to give
those we love. Thus Pet Honey, Dcaric
Babe "a name by which a grey-haired wom-
an, the youngest of her family, is vet
known to an entire village), Sonny, Laddie
Lasse. and names with a diminutive end
ing, Sally and Willie, common in
family circles.
we'll known to us for their character or
ability. In so new-naming the great and
good, we feel more nearly drawn to them.
They appear to be of humanity like to
and deem ourselves more
worthy of respect in honoring them. Father
Of His Country, Man of Sorrows Martyr
President. Maid of Orleans, are names to
take off our hats to.
We must be lazy-or perhaps we talk so
much that we have not the time to pro-
nounce long words in their entirety-for we
failing of real names. Marguerite is
called Margery, Madge, Marcy, or Rita. as
the fancy strikes us. Dorothy becomes
Dora Dotty or Dot. For stately Eliza
beth we substitute Lizzie, Bessie Beth, Lis
BETH or Betty. Andrew collapses into Andy
and EbeneeZer to Eb.
DerSiOn contempt is Il frequent cause
for remaining, often unfairly, as witness
the terms Sheeny and Dago when applied
promiscously to all Jews and Italians.
A MONG miscellaneous sources of nick
names are animals plants or rocks with
which a person has at some time been WV
idly associated. Rank, business transac
tions. battle charity and habits all have
set their stamp upon the doer. Surnamcs
of these origins are Drake, Brant, Wolf
Hogg Rruin, Daw and Swan; Rose and
Pease: Clay. Stone and Flint: King. Prince
Pope and Bishop: Purchase and Price: Pray.
Crowder, and the like With these things
in mind we form Buffalo Bill, Cayuse Hank
Stonewall jackson, Prosperity Robinson, Adj
casionally a friend of u family voices his
protest against its chdrens' christened
names by addressing the youngsters ac-
cording to their personal name-preferences.
SO certain Pearl called Polly by an
aunt who liked the Polly in Polly divers
Problem and little boy, Granville. was
Teddy to a neighber.
INSTRUMENTATION by child of its own
name in baby days may follow it through
life as fond relatives adopt the little ones
own version. beautiful Maude in this
way came by the name Nurdy.
Opposites may appeal to our imagination
humorous. In our town n rotund paper
hanger is dubbed Slim, while his bean-pole
rival is Fat.
Puzzles that keep us guessing while away
many winter evenings. When in such a
mood, decipher the causes for the nicknames
in this hitand-miSS collection: Snapper,
Dusty. Dinky. Buck Friday. Muggsy.
Scoops. s O'Clock Tinker SNOWFALL Rare
Old Bird, Perry Miss Pins, June. Jelly, Big
Chief. Wien, Toots, Chnch;; Chick, Rooster
p. l.. Then make up a list of your own
and try to beat the printed one.
Nicknames we'll known bring to mind fam.
Gus rulers, authors; artists. soldiers. and
the other are legion \ few are: Herodo
tus Ghistory) Chaucer English poetry, IIo
mer 'song). Abraham uhe faithful. Hippo
crates (medicine), Joe Miller tjestS). IZaak
Walton anging), and Satan dies).
Queen Elizabeth of England was proud OF
the sobriquets Good Queen Bess and ths
Virgin Queen. but her sister Mary could
scarcely have desired the title she richly
merited by prosecuting her people. that OF
Bloody Mary. Their father, the eighth OF
the Ienry's.. was Bluff Hal George the
George was the First Gentleman of Eu
The great Duke of Wellington, for his
Duke and Achilles of England. The contra
diction, Little Giant. designates the Ameri
can stephen A. Douglass. who was short o.
stature, but long on ability.
OUR presidents. being much in the public
~ eye, have collected many sobriquets, re
spectful and otherwise, according to the pc
litical affiliations of the donors Jefferson
was the Sage of Monticello, Indicative OF
his sagacity and of his residence: and als'
Long Tom Madison wrote our constitution
and is honored as its Father ~, Monroe .. be
to the formerly stylish cooked hat
is Last Cooked Hat.
Old Man Eloquent. for ]. 9. Adams, il
Sef-eXrlanatory. When Gen. Jackson came
to fame and presidency. he accumulated
!; choice assortment of ncknames all indie