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HelpRe: Hortense
in reply to a message by Starfish and Coffee
I love it! It's grandiose but dusty. It was my grandmother Janice's middle name, though according to my mother, she loathed it.
I like Tess, Tessie, and Tennie as nicknames.
I like Tess, Tessie, and Tennie as nicknames.
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Janice Hortense! Nnnasty.
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There was considerable French Huguenot immmigration into South Africa after 1685, to avoid religious persecution at home. Many surnames and given names in the Afrikaans community (South Africa was Dutch at the time, and on and off until after the Napoleonic Wars) are still recognisably French. Present-day South Africans are, generally, not good at French, but that doesn't stop them! I was at school with a girl - Elizabeth - whose little sister was Hortense. The family always called her Tensie, and pronounced the Tens- element correctly, with nasalisation. And then that -ie diminutive ... I can't remember if they pronounced the H-; I rather think they did. Tessie would have been much nicer.
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I actually like those nicknames. All of them are better than Horry, Tense or Tensie...*shudders*
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