"Chick" = nickname for "Charles"

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On Sep 18, 2006, at 4:49 PM, Jon Lighter wrote:

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

not entirely obsolete.  Yale professor Charles Perrow, the author of
the wonderful Normal Accidents, was known as Chick when he was an
undergraduate at Black Rock College, and is sometimes so called
today.  the story, as i recall it, was that when he arrived at Black
Rock, there was already a Charles, a Charlie, and a Chuck, and it was
a small place, so he had to be something else, hence Chick.

arnold

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