New Post
Search
Help[Opinions] Re: Unrelated nicknames
in reply to a message by Isis
Once I taught a Taiwanese girl whose English teacher in Taipei had 'named' the whole class with English names. She got Susannah, and hated it with a passion; someone advised her to try Ashley and she loved it. I had some explaining to do when she found out what 'ash' is, but the real etymology calmed her down nicely.
I don't know if it's the teachers or the newly-named, but very mainstream names seem popular. I was once in a room full of Taiwanese government officials, all answering to names like James and David. And I taught a boy who had Chou among his Chinese names, and opted for Joe, which I thought was clever. His brother wanted an F name, looked through the dictionary and found Fen. I was deeply relieved that his quest for a single-syllable F name hadn't taken him any further. He was a remarkably handsome bloke who could smoulder if he liked, and the aura of Heathcliff-brooding-on-the-moor which hangs over Fen really suited him.
Relatives of DH include a little girl named Caroline and known as Minnie. She's the younger sister of an Andrew who is known as Pinnie (because he used to have skinny legs. Sad, but true) and either the parents or the grandparents chose a rhyming nn for her. In the family, all references to them in their absence are met with a moment of disapproving silence!
I don't know if it's the teachers or the newly-named, but very mainstream names seem popular. I was once in a room full of Taiwanese government officials, all answering to names like James and David. And I taught a boy who had Chou among his Chinese names, and opted for Joe, which I thought was clever. His brother wanted an F name, looked through the dictionary and found Fen. I was deeply relieved that his quest for a single-syllable F name hadn't taken him any further. He was a remarkably handsome bloke who could smoulder if he liked, and the aura of Heathcliff-brooding-on-the-moor which hangs over Fen really suited him.
Relatives of DH include a little girl named Caroline and known as Minnie. She's the younger sister of an Andrew who is known as Pinnie (because he used to have skinny legs. Sad, but true) and either the parents or the grandparents chose a rhyming nn for her. In the family, all references to them in their absence are met with a moment of disapproving silence!
Archived Thread - replies disabled
1