clipping plus s (was grandparents)

[Nancy Elliott]

And Lynne (or someone), where does the -s diminutive come from
(historically)?

Nancy

> From: Lynne Murphy <lynnem at COGS.SUSX.AC.UK>
> Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 15:36:07 +0100
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Words for grandparents
>
>> Not just English speaking sub-Saharan Africa, Nancy.  In the DROC (former
>> Zaire), the capitol, Kinshasa, is usually referred to as Kin, and the
>> 'second city' of Lubumbashi is often referred to colloquially as Lubum.
>>
>
> I think this was meant to be addressed to me, not Nancy...  But
> there's a difference here--you're not getting the -s on the end that
> you get with Gabs (Gabarone), Wits (Witwatersrand), and Durbs
> (Durban).  I'm not surprised that long names are clipped, but it
> seems to be the British influence that accounts for the -s on the end
> of clipings.
>
> Lynne
> --
> M. Lynne Murphy
> Lecturer in Linguistics
> School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences
> University of Sussex
> Brighton BN1 3AN    UK
> phone:  +44(0)1273-678844
> fax:    +44(0)1273-671320
>
>