Salutations, traveler of The Internets! Welcome to William's Bloody Hell, so named after our founder, Sir Bloody William.
He is seen in the likeness above in a rare, 19th century woodcut. This
image was rumoured to have been
commissioned after a bout of unpleasantness
in the White Chapel district of London. Do enjoy your stay and peruse our many, varied offerings, much of which cannot be found elsewhere!
:: Today's soundtrack: Peter Murphy "Cuts You Up" ::
So last week I went on about the weird names people give their kids these days. This got me thinking about the odd nicknames that already exist for ordinary names.
For example, my name is William. I understand "Will," but where does "Bill" fit in? How does Richard go to Rich to Rick to Dick? Who came up with THAT evolution? And there's also the Robert to Rob to Bob and also Hob. I might allow for "Bob" but "Hob"? Okay, so Hob is an oldie and scarcely used these days, but surely you see my point? Don't even start me on Hank=Henry. I'm sorry, but I don't buy that one. Makes no sense whatsoever. They both start with an "H" and have an "n" in them, but that's where the similarities end. As far as I'm concerned, they're two separate names all together.
And those are just the common, everyday ones. I know some people who shorten "Melinda" to "Mimi" for some reason. "Georgiana" to "Gigi." Is there some book out there that lists every possible nickname to a name and why it is so? If there is, I'd like to know. I seem to remember my mother telling me when I was younger, that such nicknames exist because of the old cockney way of speaking. That they used rhymes a lot or something. I have no idea how she would have learned of this, and do not know how to investigate such a thing. Looking back, I don't even know if I should believe her. Well, you know how it is when you're a kid. You ask so many dumb questions about stupid stuff and your parents just want to shut you up. She probably made it up with something that sounded plausible to a 10 year old, and impossible to prove/disprove.
Oh, man. now I'm questioning everything my parents ever said to me.... My life is a lie!!!
William (don't call me "Billy")
