| In an
earlier issue, mention was made of the
sobriquets by which school-fellows and
members of staff were known by the boys
of the thirties.. Amusing, naughty,
sometimes unkind, occasionally ingenious,
often corny, they were almost universally
employed and with little modification
through the years. The most obvious
"Robbie" for Robinson and
"Scotty" for Harry Scott
implied a certain friendliness -at least
they had the tenor of diminutives however
undeserved in either case..
"Drugs", no diminutive, was
obviously the chemist and would have been
so even had his name been otlter than
Drewry. "Herby" was ' derived
from Mr Chant's Christian name anyway but
"Charlie" Fennell's first name
played little part since it was Cedric.
Perhaps he just kept it secret. The
origin of "F.A.B." Bailey
needed little research. Others, however,
were less obvious.
Whence
Muddy" Hawthorne and
"Fanny" Stevenson ? Even the
three Hawthorne brothers have been unable
to discover the origin of their father's
tag. "Joe Egg's" head was no
ovoid, rather flat-topped and square of
mandible, but Joe was his real name and
Hammond egg go well together.
The
revered CWH Richardson was known by
several names - always, 1 venture to
suggest, with that affection so often
used with reference to a fattier figure.
To the boys be exuded a certain
paternalism -perhaps because he had no
sons of his own - but one can only
conjecture on the image presented to the
staff! To us lads he was variously
"Charlie", "Richie",
The Old Man", "Dick",
"Old Man River" and "The
Boss". I ike my old friend John
Webster, having many years past enjoyed
Robert Donat's film portrayal of Mr
Chips, one wonders why (his befitting
epithet passed the Old Man by - for
Richie was surely Donat's prototype.
Instead,
"Chips" cloaked one's chum,
Perkins I. Surety "Perks" would
have been more apposite in Arthur's case,
but then by tradition Arthur becomes
"Tarty" and hence Jackson's
handle. Origins of others are lost tor
ever - "Pudge" Crompton,
"Chicken" Chorley (he surely
was no chicken) and the two unrelated,
even in time, "Pips", Frank
Evans and Andreas Priestland. The most
contrived of all was, of course,
"Ponsasinorum". This was
Asbridge I, W.A of that ilk. You are
invited to look up the word in your
Oxford dictionary. At the same time you
will discover the meaning of the word
com.
|
