David Gent writes: > >Fanny is a woman's name and was immortalised by Jane Austen in Mansfield >Park. However it is certainly not common. A quick poll of the >staffroom got "I don't think anyone would use that name it's got >connotations." > The contemporary connotation might be fairly recent. Jane Austin uses expressions that now have quite different meanings that I'm sure she would never have intended. For example, she frequently depicts proper young gentlemen telling proper but exhausted young ladies that they "look quite fagged." >However the abbreviation of Richard to Dick is quite common in UK and US >and "dick" is a slang expression in the UK for a penis. I thought this >was the case in the US as well in which case Stephen, you will be able >to answer your own question. Of course I may be wrong. > People might just get beyond these nicknames. My husband's grandmother was named Apollonia but was known as Fanny (and with the last name, Stanny, this must have been trying without the vulgar connotations). Perhaps she had her revenge: She named her son Richard but called him Dick. Time to get back to teaching . . . :-) Claudia ________________________________________________________ Claudia J. Stanny, Ph.D. e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Department of Psychology Phone: (850) 474 - 3163 University of West Florida FAX: (850) 857 - 6060 Pensacola, FL 32514 - 5751 Web: http://www.uwf.edu/psych/stanny.html
