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From:
Subject: Re:Nicknames - ' Pole' GOODY (Maypole Pub) & others
Date: Wed, 01 Sep 2004 06:47:10 -0400


In an email dated 1/9/2004 8:21:18 am GMT Daylight time, "colleen morrison" <> writes:

>>The nicknames which seem to have been rife in this part of Essex - Maldon, Tiptree, Tollesbury, Blackwater estuary villages - especially in coastal areas among the fishing and boating community, fascinate me.
>
>Old Pye, Old Stubbins, Shaver Mills, Sooty Mussett, Hobby Keeble, Gunner Cook, Pinky Hewes, 'Admiral' Wyatt among them.
>

Hi Colleen

ISTRT I have read about the commonness of nicknames in Essex somewhere before. I'm not sure if it was a method of 'bonding' during difficult times, but to use a different name from the given name has always put both the person called by the nickname and the person calling them by it into a sort of 'club' - a piece of shared knowledge that puts them outside the boundary of a formal relationship and inside the boundary of friendship. The fishermen in Leigh-on-Sea were nearly all known by their nicknames

These nicknames could also seem quite insulting to those on the outside, using descriptions of the person in one form or another. Your 'Pole' Goody (tall and thin like a bean-pole, with the added 'in-joke' of him running the Maypole Inn) is one example, as well as 'Lofty' meaning someone tall. Then there are the opposites - 'Lofty' for someone short, 'Bright' for someone who's a bit on the dim side, etc.

But 'insults' like these are all part of the British way of life which is not always understood by those places abroad where it is socially unacceptable to say anything bad about someone to their face. In the UK, once you have got to know someone well enough to feel comfortable stepping over the boundaries in order to be rude to them and they have insulted you back then it's a sign you have been accepted.

However, it must be obvious that the insult is meant in jest. Get that wrong and they will never speak to you again!

It is the same with nicknames - unless your nickname has virtually become your Christian name (I know someone whose name is Helen but everyone calls her Hen) it is insulting for a stranger or an official to use it until you have got to know them better.

Dave D

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