Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Candidates' Spouses (cont.)   [John Derbyshire]

An observant reader, commenting on that terminal "i" favored by Mrs. Giuliani.

"Terminal 'y' or 'ie' were mid-century standards:  Susie, Jenny, Sally.  Terminal 'i' was a late '60s cutsey-pootsie-wootsie affectation:  Toni, Debbi, Teri, etc.  Replaced in early '70s by terminal double-e, which is worse.  I actually went to a school with a girl named 'Randee.'
Replaced in '90s by no diminutive at all:  Jennifer was no longer Jenny, but 'Jen.'  I've known half a dozen just in the last decade.  Recently supplanted by 19th-century boys' names for girls:  Taylor, Ashley, Sidney, Casey, Madison."

My reader, who is a lady, then goes on to aver that her own daughter, should she ever be blessed with any, will be named  Anne, Catherine, or Elizabeth:  "If it's good enough for the calendar of saints and the Plantagenets, it's good enough for me."

Incidentally, I recall a female acquaintance, circa 1970, having difficulties over naming her son "Courtney."  She was a devout & involved Roman Catholic, and the Church at that time frowned on parishioners giving their children names that (I think) were not in the Calendar of Saints.  Did I remember that right?  Is it still a rule?  Or has it gone the way of fish on Fridays?

I'm glad, at any rate, that we're not being invited to vote for a guy whose wife calls herself "Judee."

02/07 08:50 AMShare