Cabbage-smelling Brits, US/UK slang, slightly OT

[GulPlum]

No: HPFGUIDX 42921

At 22:20 19/08/02 +0000, frankielee242 wrote:

>Um, leeks and cabbage I can understand, but what the heck are neeps?

Turnips. The (stereotypical) main foodstuff of the Scots. Good with Haggis. 
Apparently.

>I have a slightly OT question for the English HPfGU members. There
>isn't much evidence for or against this in any of the HP books, so
>here goes-- Do you guys give each other serious nick-names while
>you're kids in school? Not insulting or funny nick-names, but actual,
>every-day use names?

Why the distinction between serious, insulting, funny and every-day? 
Nicknames are given in all sorts of situations for all kinds of reasons, 
Some of them stick, some of them don't.

For instance, I was called "Plum" as a kid (as was most of my family; it's 
what our surname means) :-) and hated it. Perhaps strangely, several years 
later I voluntarily took it on as the basis for my online persona and there 
are lots of people I know in the real world who've taken to using it as 
well. For some reason, I don't mind any more...

A friend of mine (real name Dick Whittington - no, NOT Richard!) has been 
known since schooldays as Haplo (the origin on the name is lost). Nobody in 
their right mind calls him Dick!

A guy I knew at school (haven't seen him in ages!) was extremely small for 
his age and was known as "Dot" - the name was still in use the year after 
his final exams by people outside the school.

A final example from this year's UK Big Brother - one of the housemates 
(real name Spencer Smith) got the nickname "Spanky" at school and 
apparently he still uses it in his mid-twenties, and half the country now 
knows him only by that name. :-)

>For instance, odd shortenings of given names like "Char" for Charles,
>"Fling" for Flemming or "Raz" for Erasmus; plays on physical
>characteristics like "Cryp" (short for "cripple"-- the injured party
>came up with it himself, so don't yell at me) or "Arnold" for one of
>the gargantuan women shot-putters; and personality traits such as
>"Smutt" for a gentleman of easy virtue? Even teachers over here use
>these names. They even referred to "Spooge" as... well, "Spooge."

Sure. though "Chaz" rather than "Char". Giving teachers nicknames is a 
time-honoured tradition all over the world and the best ones have at least 
one unchanging one, and a second one given by each generation of pupils. My 
erstwhile headmaster had the "official" pupil nickname of "Ape" (he had 
exceptionally long arms and tended to scratch under his armpits a lot!) but 
during my time had at least 3 other "unofficial" ones which were less 
inventive but also used. Of course, to the best of my knowledge, he wasn't 
aware of ay of them, and *especially* not Ape!

>A skip in the U.K. is a dumpster in the U.S., so... would you guys
>actually give anyone, affectionately or otherwise, the nick-name "Skip"?

I don't see why not. Especially for my generation, weaned as we were on 
"Skippy"
(http://histclo.hispeed.com/the/tv/itv/s/to-skippy.html for those who don't 
get the reference). :-)