I also wondered where Polly came from Mary (in Louisa May Alcott's The Old-Fashioned Girl they seem to think this is the correct nickname)
Natter 42, the Universe, and Everything
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, flaming otters, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
L and R are pretty close, pronunciation-wise, no?
I'm pretty sure the real background is that (English-speaking) people used to use very few first names, so you needed lots of nicknames for Mary, Sarah, Ann, Elizabeth, Margaret.
JUST GIVE THEM DIFFERENT NAMES THEN.
I never liked Sally. And the one time someone suggested it, they got the hairy eyeball.
Jack Bauer in a series of Japanese commercials. (Yes, Jack Bauer. Not Kiefer Sutherland.)
JUST GIVE THEM DIFFERENT NAMES THEN.
They didn't have them back then!!!!!!
Sure they did. Choose a virtue.
new names hadn't been invented yet?
That sony bean thing is the cute.
Is it just me, or was last night's GA not quite as good as normal?
If they could come up with variations to call the eightymillion different Saras, they could just use those variations instead!