On Wed, 27 Sep 2000, David Gent wrote:
> Fanny is a woman's name and was immortalised by Jane Austen in Mansfield
> Park. However it is certainly not common. A quick poll of the
> staffroom got "I don't think anyone would use that name it's got
> connotations."
If Fanny is now avoided because of its vulgar connotation in
Britain, then the relative popularity of Fanny as a given name in
Britain should be much less than in the U.S. One would have to
compare them on an equal basis, say frequency of names per 100
births. Of course, the popularity of the name in Britain and the
US may differ for other reasons as well. However, if the
frequency of Fanny is actually higher in Britain, this would be
convincing counter-evidence that its vulgar meaning is not a
concern.
I tried to get some statistics on this on the web, and got
nowhere (although I seem to recall once having a U.S. government
site with this information). The best I could do was find a
Quebec government site, but what they posted there was
confusing and seemed rather unlikely. Of course, I never trust
_anything_ from the Quebec government.
>
> However the abbreviation of Richard to Dick is quite common in UK and US
> and "dick" is a slang expression in the UK for a penis. I thought this
> was the case in the US as well in which case Stephen, you will be able
> to answer your own question. Of course I may be wrong.
>
Good point. Dick has the same vulgar meaning here, but it doesn't
seen to stop people from using it as a nickname, even for US
presidents. And "John" has other undesirable connotations, but I
believe it's popular nonetheless.
> Of course it is off topic, but there may be something here
> for attitudes. Some Richard's do not like to be known as
> Dick and some classes certainly titter when that abbreviation
> is used. Yet others do not and the parents must have chosen
> that name either in ignorance or something else. I might use
> it as a passing example in the same way that I would use the
> idea of a male teacher wearing a dress and a student coming
> into college in a swimming costume and nothing else -
> compared with the former in a pantomime and the latter on a
> beach.
...or that what is considered acceptable is a function of the
situation. In passing, I can't help but notice more
British-American differences in your paragraph. Over here, we get
all dressed up in a suit when we go to swim rather than put on a
costume. And I doubt that most people understand your reference
to a pantomime. Being privileged, I know what a panto is, but I
doubt the teeming American millions do.
-Stephen
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Stephen Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470
Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661
Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Canada Department web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy
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