Biddy (was Peter)

[David Salmon]

According to Webster's and my recollection of my grandfather's Texas farm,
"biddy" is a name for a young hen or chicken, I suppose the female
equivalent of banty, as in banty rooster.  OED suggests it traces to Gaelic,
not bitty.  Back when people had chickens, it could have been a good
nickname for someone who was small.

David

----- Original Message -----
From: "Marc Pierce" <karhu at umich.edu>
Sent: Monday, April 16, 2001 1:31 PM

[ moderator snip ]

> Also, apropos "biddy," this is still reasonably common in some contexts,
> e.g. youth basketball leagues are often called "biddy basketball."  Is
> this perhaps a variant of "bitty"?