Why Is Dick a nickname for Richard

[Jonathan Lighter]

A further example of the "easier pronunciation for toddlers" phenomenon.

In the celebrated motion picture _Since You Went Away
_ (1944), the 15-year-old Shirley Temple plays a 15-year-old named Bridget.
Her family refers to her as "Brig" [brIg].

I've never encountered this name elsewhere, but then I've never known or
read about many American "Bridgets."  (The Irish hypocorism is "Biddy,"
another ex. of the same process.)
JL

On Sat, Aug 15, 2009 at 9:13 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Why Is Dick a nickname for Richard
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> It seems to me that there ought to be a simple, straightforward answer
> to Joel's question - cf. the well-known [b] vs. [B] alternation in
> many of the world's languages. When I was taking Spanish 101, most of
> my classmates tended to go with [w] over [B]. (I actually *used* the
> language lab, so I knew better.)
>
> However, I'm not the person to provide that explanation, unfortunately.
>
> FWIW, my baby brother called me "Wusson" [w^sn] and my brother,
> Garrett, "Dawit" [d&:wIt].
>
> -Wilson
>
> On Sat, Aug 15, 2009 at 5:47 PM, Joel S. Berson<Berson at att.net> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> > Subject:      Re: Why Is Dick a nickname for Richard
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > At 8/15/2009 04:24 PM, ronbutters at AOL.COM wrote:
> >>I'd expect that the labialization yof the "R" of "Robert" would be
> >>related to the common r>w in child language acquisition, as well as
> >>the influence of the following "b"
> >
> > So why do we see "Rob" or "Bob" as the shortenings, but not "Wob"?
> >
> > Along these lines, my younger brother's early name for me was
> > (transcribing the oral) "Guhn-Gee" (hard G with schwa and soft G with
> long E).
> >
> > Joel
> >
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>
>
> --
> -Wilson
> –––
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
> to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -----
> -Mark Twain
>
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