| 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.
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