Have you ever thought about certain nicknames that just don't seem to relate any names? For example, you can see where Bill or Will come from (though I now wonder why it's Bill) or Mike or Cathy or Debbie.

My husband asked me what name the nickname Polly came from. Interestingly, it comes from Mary, though that isn't intuitive. Even though I am always skeptical of Internet answers, that seems to be true. However, I wondered about this answer in Yahoo! Answers: Link. Is it true, do you think, that in the Middle Ages Ps and Ms were exchanged in nicknames?

It's certainly true that Peg and Peggy are nicknames for people named Margaret. I don't know the origin of this though.

(Can you imagine anyone calling Margaret Thatcher, "Peg"?)

Peggy, no; Attila the Hen, yes. But then we have Barak Quisling here.

Behind the Name says that "Peggy" is a

quote:

Medieval variant of Meggy, a diminutive of MARGARET. The reason for the change in the initial consonant is unknown.

The same site says that "Polly" is a variant of "Molly", itself a diminutive of Mary. Again, they say the reason for the change in the initial consonant is unknown.

I know nothing about this site, having found it by Google, but it looks fairly authoritative. See also the separate page on diminutives.

The OED Online says Moll is a pet-form of the name Mary and that Poll was originally a rhyming form of Moll. Adding the suffix -y gives you Polly and Molly. It says the use of the suffixes -y and -ie "... in pet forms of proper names is found in Sc. as early as 1400; and in the 15th and 16th centuries instances become frequent; ...". Likewise, Peggy is a rhyming form of Meggie and Meggie is a pet-form of Margaret.

Wikipedia has a long list of nicknames for and variants of Margaret and Mary. The Straight Dope also has an article.

quote:

Originally posted by Geoff:
Peggy, no; Attila the Hen, yes. But then we have Barak Quisling here.

It would be nice to see 2 Threads in a row without cheap-shot political commentary. If there isn't a political forum here, there ought to be, to which this and similar can be consigned. You might at least have spelt his first name correctly.
Lastly (for now)--To compare the sitting US President to Vidkun Quising is ludicrous--to which other nation do you think Mr. Obama is preparing to deliver us? Remember that Quisling was an extreme RIGHT-wing leader.

One of the problems with coming to a forum and not knowing the people is that you don't understand the background. This was clearly not a political statement; Geoff has a great sense of humor and keeps us all laughing here. He is also politically liberal.

I disagree with you about this place having so much "cheap-shop political commentary," though I admit I am biased since I was one of the originators of this site. If you read our Tips to Newcomers, we try very hard to keep away from political rants. As an administrator here, please feel free to PM me if you wish to discuss this further.

quote:

Originally posted by jazzboCR:

Absent positive indicators otherwise, . . .

I'd say his use of a "smiley face" was a "positive indicator" that he was joking. You may think the joke was in poor taste, but I don't see how you could think he was serious.

quote:

Originally posted by jazzboCR:
You might at least have spelt his first name correctly.
Lastly (for now)--To compare the sitting US President to Vidkun Quising . . .

Misspellings are, unfortunately, common. By the way, do you realize you misspelled Quisling?

quote:

Originally posted by jazzboCR:
Calling ANY sitting President by the name of one of history's foulest traitors clearly IS political, no matter the intent. I don't have to know how jocular someone is in person or their personal politics to find his statement reprehensible.

OK, so stone me along with that Iraqui woman for political adultery.

To the administrators: Either he goes or I go.