Yags

[Paul Hopper]

----------------------------Original message----------------------------
The "hypocoristic" -s is (or was) widely in junior schools and families in
the UK. It is however not restricted to names, but is found in baby-talk
generally. See:

Mühlhäusler, Peter. 1983. "Stinkiepoos, cuddles, and related matters."
Australian Journal of Linguistics 3:75-91

Paul Hopper

--On Thursday, January 25, 2001 5:21 PM +0000 Kevin Tuite
<tuitekj at ANTHRO.UMontreal.CA> wrote:

> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> Dear colleagues,
>
> Uninformed as I am about English historical linguistics, this query may be
> more a reflection of my ignorance of the literature than of the novelty of
> the phenomenon that motivated it. In the sports section of the newspaper
> this morning were excerpts from an interview with hockey star (and team
> owner) Mario Lemieux. He recounted a phone call to another player, in
> which he told him "You've got to get in here and play with me and Yags".
> Yags, the sportswriter explains, is the nickname of Lemieux's linemate
> Jaromir Jagr. My question is, where does this final -s come from? I have
> the distinct impression that I've heard other examples of nicknames in -s
> in (North American) English, but a search through Mencken's "The American
> Language" turned up no mention of this usage. Has anything been written on
> the addition of -s to names, and if so, has any linguist speculated on its
> origins?
>
> Thanks in advance for your help,
>
> Kevin Tuite
>
>
>
>
>
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