"Chick" = nickname for "Charles"

[Jonathan Lighter]

An "early" printed ex. of this (obs.?) U.S. alternative to "Chuck":

  1913 Charles E. Van Loan _The Lucky Seventh_ (Boston: Small, Maynard) 238:
  "Hello, Chick ole boy!"..."Charles!" she said. "Who are these men?"

  According to at least one source, Maj. Charles Whittlesey (1884-1921), once famous as the commander of the "Lost Battalion," was nicknamed "Chick" at Williams College about 1904, but I've not seen the documentation. (Richard Slotkin, _Lost Battalions_ [N.Y.: Holt, 2005], p.80.)



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